He didn’t know how old Princess was. He had found her down by the Harlem River, tied to a tree. At first he’d waited with her; she too seemed confident that her owner would come back, and eyed him with caution. She had pretty eyes; they looked like they were lined with kohl. When it got dark, when the fog began rising from the field and the dog began to whimper, he untied her and led her to the water, where she eagerly drank. He took her home, intending to come back to this same place the next day in case the owner came looking for her there, and for the next six months he passed by the spot almost every time he took her out for a walk; he was ready to give her back any day. Until one day, all of a sudden, he wasn’t anymore.

She was a gentle, affectionate, friendly dog, and because there was something aristocratic about her, he had named her Princess.

He stepped on a floorboard that only creaked in winter and that he normally avoided. The wall above his radio terminal was covered with QSL cards, all the way to the ceiling. Hunting trophies. He too sent out QSL cards to confirm contacts made. As far as Paris, Stockholm, even once to the South Seas. Networks that stretched across the globe. English in every accent imaginable.

He switched on the transceiver and took a seat. Quiet signals trickled in through a flood of static and squeals. He sent out his call sign, then a CQ—come quick. He repeated the sequence a few times and enjoyed listening to the static and crackle of the atmosphere, the feeling that the whole world was flowing toward him.

“W2DKJ here.”

It was a woman’s voice.

“Good evening, W2DKJ. W4NER here, reading you loud and clear. What time is it out where you are?”

“Hello, W4NER. I’m reading you loud and clear too. It’s twenty-three hundred here.”

“Same here!” That meant the woman was somewhere nearby. He usually had contact with other time zones; the dead zone over New York could extend well beyond the city.

“What’s your location, W2DKJ?”

“The Catskills, Woodstock.”

“So that’s where the New York City dead zone ends!”

“And life begins!”