4. Moving in (01:59)

Helen: Hey, I’m off work, just walking home now.

Katja: Hey! How was it?

Helen: Oh fine, you know. The usual. Sorry, I didn’t have time to drop by. It was a rush at the end of the shift. I could see you at the weekend instead?

Katja: [Sighs] For sure, yeah, I get it. It’s ok.

Helen: Really? You don’t sound it.

Katja: It is! I just… I just wish you were here. Living here. I meant what I said about moving in.

Helen: I know love. I’m just not sure if I have..

Katja: All you need is your residence permit! We’d both be 25s, and we wouldn’t be split like this, missing out on time together.

Helen: Well, the same sun sets, and the same sun rises.

Katja: Well if you’re insisting on poetic cliché, the shadows it casts don’t quite line up.

Helen: Come on! It’s a tiny slippage. Honestly, I was expecting it to be far worse, that we’d be out of sync like a laggy video. That you’d spend all our chats waiting for me to catch up. And anyway, they patched the phones.

Katja: It feels different. I can’t really explain it. We’re a little further apart every day, as if the gap is widening.

Helen: That’s not how it— [sighs heavily]. The difference is always the same, and the calendar days line up.

Katja: I know that’s not how it works! But that’s how it feels.

Helen: I’ve just been exhausted lately, that’s all it is. Not the time difference. When I’ve got a bit more energy, I’ll start applying for the permit.