Rumor was that he had built a hit video game using only a cellphone. The ubiquity of the technology dawned on Christine like sunlight pouring through the cracks in an overcast sky.
“Yeah, I earned enough to afford a cheap monthly plan just panhandling the liquor stores around here,” he said. His breath stank. “I had a little circuit I used to run, changed it up depending on the season. Tourist time was always juicy.” He hawked a viscous green glob of phlegm into the gutter. “Father Thomas at Saint Luke’s let me use the mailing address.”
How did he manage to publish?
“You get Internet everywhere downtown. Sure, it takes longer to move data over wireless, but time is a luxury I got.”
Didn’t the cold bother him?
“Winter sucks, yeah. If I’d had the means back then I would’ve gone south for the season. Heck, if I’d had the means to go south, I probably would’ve gone and never come back. Arizona’s real nice year-round. So’s Bogotá, for that matter.”
First draft: 201027
Published: 231110