"Hey Rona!"

Rona held the 'phone to her ear and screwed up her face, and shook the 'phone as if that would make the signal clearer. "What? Mal, is that you? I can't hear anything!" But the line went dead, with just a series of regular electronic beeps to indicate that there'd ever been a call at all. Rona tried to call Mal back, but got an engaged tone; she hung up and her 'phone started ringing. "Mal (mobile) calling" the display said.

She pressed the green "answer" button. "Hello? Are you there?"

"Are you there?" came Mal's voice echoing back down the line.

"Yeah I'm here. Can you hear me?"

"Hello?"

"Mal! Hello!" Rona laughed, but by the time she said it the beeps had returned.

A third call came a few minutes later: Mal was nothing if not persistent. Like a dog with a ball, Rona thought warmly. She better make sure she never told anyone that was how she thought of him.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Rona!"

"Yes! Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

"I can! What's up?"

"I'm in the country!" Mal said, but already the signal was fading.

"I can hardly hear you now" Rona shouted.

"I'm on my mobile" Mal said unnecessarily. "In . . . country . . ."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Signal keeps . . . out."

"I think it's dropping out again, Mal."

"G . . . mn it!" she heard Mal say quietly, but she couldn't tell if he was talking to himself or if it was just the bad signal getting in the way again. Soon, as she expected, the call got cut off.

She waited patiently, sure that Mal would try a fourth time. Hell, they'd almost had half a conversation just then! But her 'phone didn't ring. He must be really out in the wild somewhere. She wondered where he was.

Fifteen minutes later her 'phone beeped, and she pressed some buttons to see what the message was that she'd just received. It was, of course, from Mal, and it said:

"The Fractals r playing qld! Xing the murray rite now! Goin interstate!!"