the cellphone, to borrow a phrase from Mark Twain,
is a "modern inconvenience"

granted, it's a pretty handy thing to have, but it
comes with a price - the loss of solitude and freedom

before the advent of the cellphone, there were many
times when a person was, by necessity, unreachable
and on his own - as when driving

then he could crank up the volume on the car radio,
press a little harder on the accelerator, take off and
begin to fly

today, it's a little different -

one's sense of freedom, one's fortress of solitude
can come crashing down at any moment, with just
a little - ring . . . ring