-Inez de La Cruz

“I sang.

The moon encouraged me.

I danced.

My shadow tumbled after.

As long as I knew, 

We were boon companions.”

— Li Po: Drinking Alone with the Moon

It's almost midnight when Wheein sits face-to-face with a box she has been holding off from opening for two days. With a sigh and two consecutive huffs, she reached for the box cutter and finally unwrapped the whole thing.

It’s a telephone set.

Not exactly a cellphone, but the one that is to be installed in her apartment so she can dial anybody who, by chance, also has this contraption integrated into their home.

(By this, she meant her grandmother.).

It’s not like her grandma can't keep up or is not eager to learn videocalling, but for some reason, she feels more at ease and assured this way.

PLEASE READ AND SAVE BEFORE USING

Wheein flipped the tiny brochure and observed the components and accessories in her hand, continuing back and forth with rising interest. Let’s see… Connect the telephone line cord, connect the handset cord, and then… confirm the dial tone. After setting the dialing mode selector to TONE and the ringer to LOW, she lift the handset closer and further within earshot until a long, unending tone can be heard. Good, because that means the tel