And she feels it too. The stones needling Ilan’s feet, the dull back pain he’s been complaining about for the past year.

Her phone rings. Pulls her away from the body. The screen goes black again. She fights with the phone, pressing buttons until the ringing stops.

“Hello. Hello? Can you hear me? I got stuck. Can you hear?”

“Ruthie?”

She recoils.

“It’s Amichai. Where are you stuck?”

She takes a deep breath. “Oh, no, I’m just, I was just talking to someone here, how—how are you?”

“Good. Heard your message. You and Ilan still in the building?”

“Yes, actually,” she says and presses her head against the wall. It’s cold, reminds her of the water.

“Good, happy to hear. They’re treating you well?”

“Yup. Everyone’s real nice.”

“Wonderful. You want to pop into my office for coffee?”

She closes her eyes. Her son is standing in front of her, under the waterfall, drenched. The image slowly clears, she sees every part of his body becoming sharper.

“Actually we’re still in the middle of the procedure.”

“Got it. You’re welcome to pop by afterward if you feel like it. My office is on the fourteenth floor.”

She feels the oily moss beneath her feet.

“Okay, Ruthie?”

“Sure, okay. I’ll see how it goes here, I can’t promise.”

“No pressure, we’re seeing each other tomorrow,” he says, and she tries to picture Amichai’s face. Recalls the wrinkled white shirt he wore on their wedding day. The line disconnects. She drops the phone to the floor, stares at the tiles, sees the water swirling beneath her. Reaching her knees. She closes her eyes, feels the memory starting to stir inside her like a movie, the water rippling around her in a veil of mist. A slow breeze blows against the back of her neck. Out of the corner of her eye she sees children playing, but they’re a blur. She can’t zero in on them. She’s focused entirely on her son. His laughing body. A healthy, deep laughter. He’s yelling something. Shouting with a big smile. But she can’t hear him. Can’t read his lips either; the water is obscuring the image. She feels Ilan’s body answering, telling him something, but she can’t make out the words.