Heartbeep

First thing's first. The above drawing was done by Pawl Simmons. I filled in the black one.

I used to watch the live-action 'Batman' series like it was going out of style. At one point WFLD aired two episodes daily. One summer, when I was probably twelve years old, I think I saw every one. Indoor summer! Sad but true. Sure, the Batmobile was the sweetest car ever, the Batboat was ridiculously perfect and Batman's utility belt brought a tear to any wannabe gadget-wielding kid's eye. But nothing compared to the Phone. You know the one. It only rang when there was trouble. It had one button on it. And you know a phone that important needs to be housed in a glass shell. And it was.

Somewhere around, oh, probably, 1997 Pawl Simmons drew a 'heartphone' and showed it to me. I clung to the image. The idea of a phone with only one button dialing direct to that certain someone was easy to make my own. Pawl then added my band's name to it and I brought the drawing to Kinko's and made low-budget stickers. Promotion for the group; promotion for the phone. All copies of this image had since been lost. I had only the memory burned into my head.

For the past year and a half I've been dialing internationally using a calling card to chat up my sweet. First you call the 800 number. Then you enter your pin. And then you dial the actual number you want to call. That's a mess of numerals. Things could be simpler. Couldn't there be a direct communication link available at all times; no fumbling for numbers when time is of the essence? Batman and Pawl Simmons are geniuses of functional design. I just wanted to publicily announce that.

A few weeks ago I tracked down Pawl in the back of one of our usual haunts. He was hunched over the pool table. I had the paper in my coat pocket and he borrowed a pen. We didn't have to say much because we'd already discussed the details. He put the pen to paper and in single simple lines drew heartphone after heartphone, recreating the image for me. I put it in my pocket. We walked home, her and I. She didn't have to leave for another few days and the tangles of wire meandering through cities and buried under oceans didn't even cross my mind. This distance wasn't there anymore. Fingers intertwinded, hearts beeping.