In the third box a man has the number written on paper, though he has not needed the paper for a year. The old phone boxes in the post-office palace have been kept on as quiet-boxes — a shelf, a stool, a folding door with somebody’s initials healed over by varnish — and the marble outside them is drying other people’s rain. The receiver is warm from the last caller. The call is free. The calls are always free.
You have reached the continuation service. This call may be recorded for training purposes.
For renewals, press one. For cancellations and reinstatements, press two. To report a fault with a continuation, press three. For estates and residuals, press four. For everything else, press five.
He presses three.
Describe the fault after the tone. Speak naturally.
The laugh, he says. The laugh is late. Half a second. Every time.
We find no fault. The timing conforms to the licensed profile. Your report will improve the profile. To hear this result again, press one. To dispute this result, press two. To speak to someone, press zero.
He presses zero.
You are in a queue. Your position is being held for you.
The hold music is four bars, patient, and then itself again. He knows the shelf. He knows the initials. His knees know the stool.
You have left the queue.
For estates and residuals, press four. He presses four, the way you press a bruise.
These services have been transferred to the counterparty of record. The counterparty does not take calls. If you are calling about a person rather than an account, we are sorry, and this apology is recorded and counts as a contact.
For everything else, press five. He presses five.
Say the name of the person you are calling about.
He says it. The booth says it with him, the way small rooms do. It is a name he used to say against skin.
This name has options. To hear recent activity, press one. To hear the voice, press two. One sample is available per calendar year. To hear nothing, stay on the line.
He presses two.
The sample is the breath before the first word. His mouth opens with it. It stops where the word would start. You have used your sample.
There is a key in his pocket and the varnish is thick.
Through the glass of the folding door a man is waiting, unhurried, in clean shoes.
To hear these options again, press nine.
He presses nine. For renewals, press one. For cancellations and reinstatements, press two. To report a fault —
To hear these options again, press nine.
He presses nine.
To hear these options again, press nine.
The nine has gone pale. The others have their numbers on them still, and the nine has a shine where the number was, and he has never once looked at it while pressing it.
He presses nine.