She hears from him again today after the death of a dictator, the forced closure of a spa centre and the discovery of error in a particle physics experiment. Between now and his last text, a country was set free, a community was deprived of fish spa and Einstein’s relativity lived on; the world has changed.

Those two days. Spanned eons.

She wonders if his texting her is a compensation for his having broken the social inertia, or if he really means to reach her.