‘Anything about the future. What life is like in 2019?’
Did I? I’d never really thought about it before. When Dawn had been diagnosed with cancer, I wondered whether we wouldhave done anything differently if we’d known it was coming. Whether we would have made more of our lives if we’d known how little time we had left together. But the truth was, I didn’t think we would have done. We were happy as we were. Knowing what was coming was more likely to have ruined things for us than improved them.
‘I’m not sure,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you start by telling me what the hell you do with that weird phone thing? It looks like something out ofStar Trek.’
She laughed. ‘It’s so bizarre to think how normal it’s become to have one of these,’ she said, holding the camera/phone/computer in her hand. ‘These have only been around about eight or nine years, but even kids have them.’
‘But what do they do? I mean, I can see they take photos. But what else are they for?’
‘Everything,’ she said, simply. ‘Honestly, it’s amazing. Let me show you.’
She swiped her finger across the screen and typed in some numbers and the screen sprang to life. She tapped a square in the corner of the screen.
‘This here is how you access the internet.’ I watched as she typed in ‘time slips’ and the page filled with lists. She tapped on one and a website loaded. It was incredible to see, and I knew I was staring gormlessly but I didn’t care.
‘And look at this,’ she said, clicking on a little pink square. ‘This is Instagram.’
‘What’s that?’
‘It’s a social media site where people post photos and follow each other.’
‘So you can literally just look up anything at any time, no matter where you are?’
She shrugged. ‘More or less.’
‘Jeez.’ I looked round. ‘But where’s the modem? I mean, how do you get the internet connection out here in the middle of the park?’
‘It’s all on 4G. Or 5G. Or a wireless internet connection if you’re in range of one.’ She looked at me and laughed. ‘Your face is a picture.’
‘It’s just…’ I trailed off. ‘It’s like magic, to be honest.’
‘I guess it is, really. I mean, I’ve never really thought about how it works, I’m only ever really bothered that it does. But when you think about how little time twenty years is, it feels mad that things have changed so much.’
‘Can I have a go?’ I said.
She handed it to me. I turned the phone over in my hand. The case was smooth, an Apple sign on the back. I held it up next to mine. ‘And to think I thought my phone was hi-tech.’
‘I suppose it is compared to everything that’s come before.’
I tapped the screen the way she had but it remained blank.
‘I can’t see anything,’ I said.
She took it from me and it sprang back to life. She handed it back and it went dark again.
‘It looks like it’s defunct wherever you are.’
I laid both phones down on the bench and let out a long sigh. ‘This feels really freaky.’
‘It really does.’
I twisted my body so I was facing her. ‘I must seem like a dinosaur to you. And—Oh!’ A thought had just occurred to me, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to think about too much.
‘What?’
I shook my head. ‘Nothing.’
‘Come on, it clearly wasn’t nothing. What have you just realised?’
