Hum

by Helen Phillips

her body jittery with the beautiful choices she had made.

Animals paying machines for tranquility.

Wooms were cheap, thanks to the ads. Bunnies were cheap, thanks to the ads. Phones were cheap, thanks to the ads. But rent was high.

scarcely a moment between the idea of the desire, the desire itself, the fulfillment of the desire.

They could divide and conquer, but they hadn’t come here to divide and conquer. They were always dividing and conquering, day in and day out, exhausting.

What’s in your phone that isn’t right here in front of you? There is a naked person in your bed. There is a breeze in the yard. Yet she knew there was plenty in his phone that wasn’t right here in front of him. The entire universe.