Digital Darren was a computer whiz A keyboard ace, he stunned the kids.
Fingers flying in all directions
Eyeballs swivelling to achieve perfection.
Quick fire, shoot out, ever ready
Holding down buttons, keeping steady.
His boredom threshold rather low,
He liked to keep busy, on the go.
Would never sit to read a book
Even the TV had rarely a look.
He needed to practice to maintain speed,
To make sure no-one took over his lead,
So night after night in his room alone
He streaked through levels, top scores were blown.
Breaking all records, he was the best.
Sharper and smarter than all the rest.
The day came when Darren was forced to think
The electric was down, on the blink!
A storm had raged, the wind had blown,
The house was dark, no lights, no phone.
His parents moaned, his siblings wept,
Dad rushed to the cupboard where the candles were kept.
Darren ran to his Wi-Fi in disbelief
Pushing its buttons through gritted teeth.
Tore open drawers to find game-boys,
Batteries dead, just useless toys.
Wind-up power was all he found,
Even these were quiet, barely a sound.
No flashing lights, no cutting blades
no firing guns, no fuses laid.
He ran in a panic around the house,
Kicking old toys, a car, train, clockwork mouse.
These things were dreary, no interest to him,
Presents overtaken by his digital whim.
What could he do now without the power?
His fingers were twitchy, his face was sour.
Mum appeared with comforting words,
There’s homework to do, a project on birds.
Plenty of time now no games took over,
For homework, room tidying, walking Rover.
They could sit by the fire in candlelight,
Read books, play games, have an early night.
This sounded idyllic, a welcome change,
Time as a family, they’d find it strange.
But Digital Darren was not amused,
He ranted and raged. He blew his fuse!
Becoming heated and red in the face,
His mother called the doctor to examine the case.
The prescription was simple though hard to follow,
A severe and bitter pill to swallow.
A strict regime, most firm, but fair
To get all things digital out of his hair.
He was only allowed his games one day,
The rest of the week, they’d be put away,
Secure and safe under lock and key,
He’d be active, busy, fit you see.
His fingers ached and longed to push
The buttons to provide an adrenalin rush.
His digital crown had certainly crashed,
His scores were low, his reputation dashed.
BUT after he broke through the threshold of pain,
Stopped moaning and sulking, became quite sane,
He started to like some different things,
Played football, went swimming ( without water-wings! )
So next time they had a power cut,
He knew what to do, he was out of the rut.
He helped his parents with the chores
And, looking back, laughed at the cause
Of his freedom from digi-techno rule,
Darren, a most popular boy at school!