Good enough?

Tracy spent her whole life choosing the “good enough” option. And life was…good enough.

Today, she was pulling out of the driveway in her modestly priced sedan with so-so reviews to house-sit for her sister, Stacey. The car didn’t connect seamlessly to her phone, but she had a cord for that. It didn’t integrate with the infotainment touch screen, but she could control the music just fine. (Good enough.)

Her coffee was okay. She was drinking it out of one of those insulated mugs, but not the expensive ones she knew her sister loved. It dribbled a little when she didn’t get the lid on quite right. But it was fine. (Good enough.)

Her husband was outside, doing a so-so job sweeping up the grass clippings left behind by the not-great mower they had bought on clearance. He was saying something that she couldn’t quite hear through the closed car windows. He waved. Not the most handsome bloke in the world, that’s for sure. (…)

Anyway, as Tracy plugged her phone in she realized it was already at 15 percent. That offbrand charging dock on the nightstand had let her down again. At least it wasn’t dead. (Good enough.)

When she arrived at Stacey’s neighborhood, she had to swipe the borrowed keycard to make the gate go up at the entrance. She parked next to her sister’s German luxury SUV and used her spare key to head inside. She let the dog out back and tossed her laptop bag on the granite countertop, remembering that she had forgotten to send an email for her so-so job in…let’s go with something vague like finance.

She’d do it right now. She pulled out her laptop, opened it up, and noticed the screen not springing to life like usual. Pressing the power button brought up the mocking black and white dead battery icon.

Ugh.

But then, there it was. Right there on the counter, next to the premium sink with the pull-down faucet – a power bank.

A brand name power bank.

As Tracy picked it up, she immediately noticed the heft. It felt solid. Substantial, even. Her electronic accessories never felt like this.

She grabbed a spare cord from next to an expensive-looking fruit bowl and plugged it into one of the multiple ports on the power ban , wondering if it even had enough juice to bring her laptop back to life. Hopefully, she could at least get her email sent.

An encouraging “ding” told her that the laptop was charging. It fired right up, with the power bank’s display indicating that her computer was charging at 65 watts. That’s more than her power adapter plugged into the wall.

A less encouraging ding came from her phone as it slipped back into low power mode after briefly charging up on the ride over.

She looked at the power bank again. Did she dare?

Seconds later, the phone was plugged into one of the remaining ports. It, too, started charging.

It was all too good to be true. Not just good enough. Just plain…good.

The phone rang.

It was her husband. She looked at the not-great photo of him that she used as his contact image, now dominating the lock screen. She looked at the power bank. And then out to the two cars in the driveway. Her fingers danced across the cool granite for a moment. (Their countertops didn’t feel like that.)

Tracy hit “ignore” on her phone, sent her email, and packed her stuff. She tossed her new Aukey Spark Mega 140W 27600mAh Ultra-Fast Charging Power Bank in her bag and headed towards the driveway, plucking a high-end luxury key fob out of the decorative bowl in the entryway on her way out.

As she pulled out of the neighborhood, the distinctive dings of her husband’s texts rang out, unheard, in the bottom of her bag. Back at the house, a small dog scratched at the back door, ready to come inside.