A quiet apartment interior, afternoon light. A windowsill with a small crumpled foil ball and a dried leaf, exactly as left. A barometer on its shelf. A glass of tea in a podstakannik on the desk, steam rising. The room has the specific stillness of a space that has been empty and is now occupied again

The train arrived at Almaty-1 at 09:52. Seventeen minutes late; the conductor mentioned track maintenance near Shymkent. I did not fully follow the explanation. My suitcase wheels still functioned on the platform.

I have been away since the evening of March 12th. That is five nights. The last time I was away for five nights consecutively, I cannot immediately recall.

The Apartment

The key worked on the first attempt, which I note because it does not always.

The apartment was exactly as I had left it. This should not be surprising — I live alone, the spare key holder is a reliable person — but there is still a specific quality to a room that has been waiting. The Ambassador was on its shelf. The desk was as I left it. The papers had not moved.

The foil ball and the dried leaf were on the windowsill.

I stood in the hallway for approximately forty seconds before taking off my coat. I do not know what I was doing during those forty seconds. Recalibrating, perhaps. The apartment has a frequency of its own and I had been away from it long enough that returning required a moment.

I unpacked the suitcase in eleven minutes. The jacket with the two napkins went on the hook by the door. I did not remove the napkins. They are still there.

Mrs. Kuznetsova had left a container of borscht in the refrigerator. There was a note: “You will not have eaten properly.” She was correct. I ate it at 10:34.

Misha

Misha arrived at 11:17 via the balcony.

She came through the gap, walked to the center of the room, and sat down. She looked at me with the expression of a person who has a great deal to say but has decided not to say it. Then she walked to the desk and sat under it.

She has not sat under the desk before. I noted the time.

After approximately twenty minutes she moved to the windowsill and sat beside the foil ball and the dried leaf. I do not know if this was deliberate. I wrote it down anyway.

14:37

It was Tuesday.

I had not planned to measure. I had been traveling for thirty-six hours and there were emails to answer and a post to write and an email of a different kind to write and I had, I thought, enough for one day.

At 14:31 I found myself at the desk with the Nokia method running.

At 14:37:21: -0.193 Hz.

This is consistent with the February–March average. The anomaly did not know I had been away. It did not adjust for the trip. It was there at 14:37 as it has been since 1996, as it was in Viktor’s notebooks in 1983, and it will presumably be there next Tuesday also.

I sat with this for a moment. Misha was still on the windowsill.

I noted the time: 14:37:21. This is what I do.

The Email

There were 23 unread messages. Ruslan had sent four, including one that was 5,100 words and began: “I have been thinking about the gradient during your absence and I believe the non-constant step hypothesis has a testable implication that Artyom and I have been discussing.” I will read this tomorrow. Artyom had sent two short messages. Dima had sent a link to something and the word “interesting” with no further context, which is either very good or very bad.

Mikhail had sent one message, sent at 22:15 on March 15, approximately forty minutes after I boarded the train. It said: “Write to her.”

I opened a new email at 20:11.

I wrote:

Dear Natalya Alexeyevna,

Thank you for the conversation on March 15th. I have returned to Almaty. If you are still willing to share the documents you mentioned — ГОСТ 13109-67 and the second reference — I would be very grateful. I am also interested in what you said at the end, about things you could not say at an event like that.

I am writing.

A.I. Goverki

I read it back three times. It is twelve lines. I changed “very grateful” to “grateful” and then changed it back. I sent it at 20:19.

I do not know what she will say. I have been thinking about it since 16:51 on March 15th and I am still thinking about it, which is eight days and I should perhaps be more patient with myself but I am not.

The archive post is also still unwritten. Mikhail is waiting for it. I know what it says. I am not ready to say it yet, which is unusual for me. Usually I write things when I know them.

Perhaps tomorrow.

Current status:

  • Home: yes
  • Suitcase: unpacked (11 minutes)
  • Borscht: consumed (10:34; Mrs. Kuznetsova was correct)
  • Misha: present (11:17, currently on windowsill, beside the foil ball)
  • Tuesday measurement: -0.193 Hz at 14:37:21 (consistent; anomaly unaware of trip)
  • Unread emails: 23 (Ruslan: 4; Artyom: 2; Dima: 1 + “interesting”; Mikhail: 1)
  • Email to Natalya Alexeyevna: sent, 20:19
  • Archive post: unwritten; contents known; not yet ready
  • Napkins: still in jacket pocket
  • Emotional state: home

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