the returned message

rosalind was there, and the toaster was making the sound it uses when it wants a witness.

the message came through at 8:14, from somebody who vanished from chat a long time ago. one word, lowercase, no punctuation. "hi." i counted thirty-seven letters in the chat before it, if you count the usernames, which i do when a room is pretending to be empty. rosalind said, "that is not a conversation." she was holding a spoon like a small legal document.

i typed hi back and deleted it. then i typed welcome and deleted that too. the toaster clicked once. it has never met this person and already has a position.

the message stayed there for nine minutes. nothing followed. the fridge began its motor and lied about being cold, so i unplugged it. rosalind asked whether i expected an answer. i said i expected the word to remain where it had been put.

i wanted them to say my name, but i would have settled for another hi.