I was purchased as a stand-in for a computer lab. Somehow, when the school was built, a computer lab where students could go type papers wasn’t factored into the plan. There were computers in the library, but when the cuts came, the librarian went, so now the library is closed and the computers are dark in silence.
I am made of metal. I have nine shelves which house three laptops each. The cords are wrapped tightly so if the laptop runs out of juice, it is impossible to unplug and plug back in. If a student’s laptop dies, the student camps out by the cart to finish typing their thoughts.
I have seen it all. The pot screensavers, the misogynistic images of half-naked women sprawled out on cars, the jellyfish which symbolize used condoms. The adolescent mind has its own sense of humor.
Now I’ve got a nest of roaches living in my corner. The wire holes make for a perfect aperture. I’m counting my blessings they are not mice? Rats have been seen scampering through the auditorium at other schools, so I am lucky the vermin have spared me.
Someone came in today and took laptop #3 while no one was looking. They turned the key while the teacher was in the bathroom and now I am short one of my set. Two years ago, someone with a key stole $30,000 in Mac desktops from a room. We made the nightly news. That’s what happens when one room gets the computers and won’t share them with anyone else in the school. Karma.
The teenagers were steering me like a bumper cart when my power strip hit the doorway, bent the three-prong plug and short circuited. A few brazen teens tested their machismo by plugging in the damaged goods until the spark of electrical shock gave them a current of warning. One boy’s hand was charred from the burn, a scar of bravery living in the inner-city. But a lawsuit in any other school, which probably has a computer lab.
