TE23 Double Feature

Selim Özdo ğan

52 Factory Lane

Fuat looks at Gül and shakes his head. ‘He can make calls too. You know the old black and white films, Ceyda, where women sit in front of a pile of cables and connect calls, they plug this in and pull that out and they say, “Hello, you’ve reached the Telephone Exchange.” You know those old films?’ Ceyda nods. ‘This is an old telephone. When Dede turns the crank, someone from the post office will pick up and ask who he wants to speak to. Then they’ll connect him to the right cable. It’s not fully automated like it is in Germany.’ ‘So everyone with a telephone has their own cable?’ ‘No, it’s a very complex system, to keep from having so many cables. Very complex. Perhaps I’ll explain it to you when you’re older. We’ll be able to call Dede when we’re back in Germany – it’ll be much quicker than always having to wait for letters. You know your dede can’t write letters anyway; he doesn’t know Latin script. He has to dictate them. The telephone will make the world smaller; it takes us three days to get here by car, but the telephone transmits words instantly. 210

It’ll be like we’re neighbours. This little thing and its crank will change so much in our lives, you’ll see…’ Soon Gül will no longer sit with her daughters, reading them the letters her father has dictated or her sisters have written. She won’t be able to read each sentence again and again, to savour every last syllable; she won’t be able to carry the lines around in her pocket to read them again at lunchtime, to pep her up for work. As always, everything will change. Gül is glad she can reach her father in this way now. Words soothe that sense of longing, hence all the letters, hence all those lines by the great bards; words connect people, lessen the heart’s burden. And what words could be more direct than words that are spoken? What could be more soothing than sound; the sound of a loved one’s voice? Two days later, Ceyda finds herself alone in the room where the telephone is kept. Full of curiosity, she picks up the receiver and holds it to her ear: no sound. She gently turns the crank then puts it back down straight away, shocked at her own boldness. Only once the receiver is back on its cradle does she hear footsteps approaching. When her 211