Чума
Part II
Intercitytelephonecalls,permittedatfirst,causedsuchovercrowdinginpublicphoneboothsandonthelinesthattheywereentirelystoppedforafewdays,thenstrictlylimitedtowhatweredescribedasurgentcases,suchasdeaths,birthsandmarriages.Sotelegramsbecameouronlyrecourse.Creaturesboundtogetherbymutualsympathy,byfleshandheart,werereducedtofindingthesignsofthisancientcommunioninaten-worddispatch,allwrittenincapitals.Andsince,asithappens,theformsofwordsthatcanbeusedinatelegramarequicklyexhausted,beforelongwholelivestogetherorpainfulpassionswerereducedtoaperiodicexchangeofstockphrasessuchas"Amwell","Thinkingofyou","Affectionatelyyours".
Someofus,meanwhile,insistedonwriting,andendlesslydreamedupschemesforcorrespondingwiththeoutsideworld,thoughtheyalwaysprovedillusory.Evenifsomeofthemethodsthatwethoughtofweresuccessful,weknewnothingaboutit,forweneverreceivedanyreply.Weekafterweekwewerereducedtostartingthesameletteroveragainandcopyingoutthesameappeals,sothatafteracertaintimewordswhichhadatfirstbeentornbleedingfromourheartsbecamevoidofsense.Wecopiedthemdownmechanically,tryingbymeansofthesedeadwordstogivesomeideaofourordeal.Andintheend,theconventionalcallofatelegramseemedtouspreferabletothissterile,obstinatemonologueandthisaridconversationwithablankwall.
