I'm not chasing Pokey Man

AS I'M LEAVING Second String Music last night, a young man I know rolled up beside me. He was on his bike. He had his cell phone placed in a holder right in front of him and had headphones on.

"Hi! I'm chasing Pokey Man!" he said. "It's awesome! Admit it! You've never seen so many people in Quincy's parks!"

"What?" I said.

"I'm chasing Pokey Man!" he said. And off he went.

Washington Park hasn't been any busier than usual - the Outside People still stake their claims to picnic tables, and lots of young families with kids playing in the fountain chase away hot summer afternoons. And people are always glued to their cell phones, no matter where they are. When we traveled to Colorado, everybody in the airports, and I mean everybody, was on their phone. I got so irritated I almost didn't play my Spider Solitaire game.

I could say something about how dangerous it is to be looking at your phone instead of the guy walking in front of you or the cars running the stop signs as you approach the intersection, but I don't want to be a prude. So I won't.

Watch the street, not the Pokey Man on your phone.

Apparently Pokey Man is some sort of video game, which automatically means I'm ignorant about it because I don't play video games. As my ever-patient wife explained to me, a new version called Pokey Man Go was just introduced, and the idea is to track it on your cell phone and capture the Pokeys, or the Mans, or the Avatars, or whatever the bleep they are.

"Who knows?" she said. "We might have one in the store. People can come in and try to find and capture some."

"I think Fast Eddie has eaten all the Pokey Mans," I said.

Look. If you want to waste your time chasing little things on your phone, more power to you. I am worried because skin cancer could rise with all these pale gamers suddenly exposed to sunlight, but they'll have to deal with it.

So come on in to the store and capture a Pokey, a man, whatever. If you buy a guitar, I'll give you a free Pokey Man - assuming Fast Eddie or the dogs haven't already nabbed them all.