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Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Dedication
  4. Dedication2
  5. 1994
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 2006
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 2018
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. Acknowledgements

He nodded. ‘Yeah.’ He looked at it. ‘Hang on.’ He went out the back with the phone and she was left standing by the counter looking around the store. It wasn’t very busy. It was Saturday afternoon. She noticed a woman at the back of the store, restacking shelves, and knew immediately there was another one of her at home, exactly the same, and then the door opened to the storeroom and there she was. One out the back, one in the store – it was probably working pretty well. So many of them were in technology. It was probably because you could work without being around people. Also, all the technology jobs needed ghosts in machines. They needed double the workforce. All the machines looked like they were labour-saving, but they weren’t. Not really. They were all Mechanical Turks. Working away behind the screen to make it look seamless from the outside. That would all change, she thought, watching the woman hand the woman who looked exactly the same a box full of compact discs. Realistically, soon there would be no use for them at all.

The guy was back with a charger, but it didn’t fit. He’d brought it over to show her, he’d already tried it out the back. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Sorry. That was sort of my last idea.’

‘Could I get a new battery for it?’ she asked.

He looked at the back of the phone. ‘Nah. I don’t think so. You could try like eBay or something. Craigslist?’ He handed it back to her. ‘Sorry.’

‘All good,’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I’ve never seen one of these Tamagotchi phones. It’s crazy.’

She nodded and walked out of the store.

36

36

When she got home, she turned the house upside down. It made sense that if the phone was in the house the charger would be as well. Which also made no sense at all. If someone had left it in the house by accident it was unlikely they would have brought the charger with them. People used old phones all the time. People loved a gimmick. She took a photo of the phone and put it in one of the chatrooms.

‘Holy shit,’ someone replied almost immediately. ‘Where the fuck did you find that?’

‘PHS only?’ she wrote.

‘Yup,’ someone else replied, and went on, ‘It only works on Japan’s personal handyphone system and I don’t think that even exists anymore. It was a low-priced wireless service,’ they explained. ‘Big with teenage girls.’ She knew all about the PHS and the reply looked like it had been copied and pasted from Wikipedia but that was the risk of asking this room, someone always wanted to explain things rather than just answer the question. Especially to her.