Benny walked into the room, asking if I remembered how much the woman from yesterday had paid to fix her microwave.

“Ninety-nine shekels and forty-five agorot.” The broadcaster’s words descended into a blaring garble.

“I told you to charge her two hundred.”

“When?”

“Turn that off, turn it off a sec. Right before I went out for lunch. Don’t you remember I told you to charge her two hundred?”

I tried to remember but couldn’t.

Benny looked at the radio. “You were wrapped up with that, huh? Never mind, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry, Benny, I can pay the difference if you …”

“It’s all good. Keep working on the radio, take all the time you need.”

I switched the radio back on. Picked up the same station. It was only after a few moments that I realized the voice was familiar.

Five-hundred-and-three-plus-one-hundred-idiot-three-hundred-and-sixty-five-shekels-fuck-what-on-god’s-green-earth-okay-let’s-see-that-comes-out-to-just-over-

I shot up in my chair, recoiling from the voice. I looked out the window into the shop. Benny was sitting at the cash register, counting receipts and scribbling in a notebook. He wasn’t talking. The radio kept broadcasting. I stared at him and imagined him speaking.

One-hundred-and-fifty-plus-two-hundred-and-seventy-five-comes-out-to-why-is-this-not-adding-up?

I leaped up so fast the chair fell backward. Benny turned to me and smiled.

God-I-can’t-take-him-anymore-what-does-that-pain-in-the-neck-want-now?

I turned down the radio and stepped out of the back room and into the shop.

“Haven’t fixed it yet? Why don’t you go out for a bite? You’ve been working all day.”

“No, thanks, just looking for a screwdriver.”

Benny yanked open the drawer and handed me one. I returned to the back room and closed the door.

Screwdriver-my-ass-he’s-just-fucking-bored-wants-to-nag-okay-again-how-much-is-two-hundred-and-seventy-five-plus-

I turned off the radio, keeping my finger on the switch for another forty-six seconds. I didn’t want to hear any more. I fixed ten other devices. At closing time, I told Benny good night and rushed out, avoiding his gaze. I went home and got straight into bed, feeling like my body was off-kilter. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t steady them. Eventually I fell asleep. I woke up at seven in the morning and wrote down what I remembered of my dream. Or rather, my nightmare. I have about one per month, on average. I washed my face and left for work. When I arrived at the shop I immediately began running tests on the radio again. At nine forty the old man called, asking if we’d fixed it yet. I told him that we were still waiting for a spare part from Germany and it would take at least another week. He thanked me and hung up. Whenever a customer walked in, I began fiddling with the frequency. I couldn’t catch the stations of the first seven customers, but at 10:53 a tall bearded man walked in. I started playing with the frequency until I heard a brittle voice coming out of the radio. I cranked up the volume.