Timeless

c.

7 March 2017

However, that didn't happen. Laughter sounded from my phone again soon, bringing my focus back to that. Maybe it was just Josephine, trying to see if something exciting had happened. Which maybe was good, because once that was done, I would hopefully be able to focus again. When I turned on the screen and opened the app, I could see it wasn't Josephine. It was Mr Unknown again.

I'm not messing with you. Honestly. I have never seen such a phone before, I'm not messing with you. I don't know where this came from, but I saw your message so I replied. Why should I want to mess with you?

Shaking my head, I just sighed.

I don't know, because people do that sometimes? For some reason they think it's funny. I don't think it's funny though, so I'd very much appreciate if you'd stop messing with me and tell me what you really want.

Apparently this wasn't over yet. Still, I could try to read as much as I could in between texts. Which wasn't very much because whoever I was talking to seemed to be eager to reply. I didn't even bother putting my phone away, which was good, because soon it laughed again.

I don't know, you were the one who wrote to me first, so really the question should be what do you want?

What the hell was this guy on about?

I didn't message you first, you wrote 'Hey :)'

I was curious how he'd explain that. Mr Unknown was a Mr in my mind as well now. And that Mr was quick with his replies, really.

I didn't write 'Hey :)'... the first thing I wrote is 'Who are you and what is this thing?' because you wrote to me first. Stop trying to make it seem like I'm the bad guy.

That was just so typical of a guy. But I wasn't going to let him get away so easily.

Then if you didn't write it, who wrote it?

Who else should have written it?

How am I supposed to know, I don't even know where this phone thing came from. It was on my dining table this morning, I've never seen this before. And I swear I didn't write anything before your first message. I don't know what's going on, I was expecting you'd know.

If that was the truth, that was certainly strange. Because if he hadn't sent that message, then who had? Before I could reply my phone laughed again. He had sent another message.

I promise, that's the truth. I don't know what's going on, but I'm pretty sure that this entire thing doesn't make sense.

Even though no one could see me, I nodded. That was definitely true, this entire thing, whatever it was, was a little strange.

I agree with that, yes. Alright, so my friend named you Mr Unknown. Maybe you can clarify that a little.

Even if I was never going to talk to that person again, I still kind of wanted to know a name. It was a good thing that whoever was sitting in front of the other phone didn't make me wait long.

My name is Brian. Mr Unknown is an interesting title though. What's your name? And how old are you? You know my age.

When I read that I smiled to myself. There was just something about the way he wrote that made him seem like a nice person.

I like your name. I'm Mira, and I'm 22. So, if you don't mind me being curious, where in London do you live? I want to know where in London there's a place they've never seen phones.

That was something I couldn't get out of my mind. I mean, everyone at least knew what a phone was, didn't they? You'd had to have been living isolated under a rock for the past ten years to not know what a phone was.

Mira. I like your name too. And I told you, we have phones here, just not this weird kind. I live in the Kensington area, and I'm pretty sure that everyone knows what a phone is. A normal phone.

Something told me we were not quite talking about the same thing.

No offence but I'm pretty sure that everyone in the Kensington area knows this 'weird' kind of phone too. It's not even that weird, it's just a normal phone. I mean, of course I don't know which phone exactly you have, but believe me, unless you ask old people, people will know what a smartphone is. I mean, it's not like we live in the middle ages...

Shaking my head a little, I put my phone aside. I did have something to do apart from texting Brian. But he was very distracting. I'd managed a couple of pages - surprisingly - before my phone notified me I'd gotten another message. I picked up my phone to see what he had written this time.

Of course we don't live in the Middle Ages, I know that, but still. I'm pretty sure no one around has ever seen a smartphone, as you call it. (not really sure what makes it so smart)

I chuckled at that last comment, shaking my head a little before I tried to think of a reply. That was getting easier and easier.

Alright, I just googled the definition, so here you go, this is what makes a smartphone smart: 'A mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps.' .. that is at least what the oxforddictionaries.com website tells me. And I've said it before but I'll say it again, you are around strange people if no one knows what a smartphone is

I kind of found myself wondering why I was stuck explaining the world to some stranger, that certainly wasn't how I had imagined my day would turn out.