Grandmother's first SMS
Sunday, September 19th, 2010 · 8:00 pm
Today an old woman, about 75, came to the shop with a small piece of paper. On the paper she had written, in big letters, a message to her grandson in Almaty: "I AM WELL. THE APPLES ARE RIPE. WHEN DO YOU COME."
I helped her type it letter by letter. It took twenty minutes. She pressed each key like she was ringing a doorbell. When it was done she asked me to show her the "send" key, and I did. She looked at the screen. "Where does it go?" "Through the air, apa." "Through the air," she repeated, and she nodded for a long time.
The answer came three minutes later: "I'LL COME IN OCTOBER GRANDMA." She read it, folded the paper, and said, "Now I know it is not magic. It was too fast for magic." And she bought a charger.