Kafka’s Smartphone

I woke up to find that something had turned into a bug

Image generated by ChatGPT. Prompt by Iwakami Ran.

One morning, I woke up to find that something had turned into a bug. My smartphone. The creature — whatever it once was — crawled up my fingertip and lit up the part that used to be its screen with a pale bluish glow. (Looks like it wants me to do Face ID.) Suppressing my revulsion, I slowly brought my face close to its belly.

At that instant, the bug spread its wings and flew. (So close!) Now it clung to the wall just below the clock, staring down at me.

I dug out my son’s bug-catching net and took a swing. “Gotcha!” Quick little thing. It dodged. We staged a full showdown across the entire room — thud, thump, crash — until: “What are you doing?” My son shuffled in, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“Let me have that. This is how you do bug-catching.” He slid the net smoothly up from below the bug. “See? Easy. Bugs have eyes on top, right? So you come from underneath — like this.” “Thanks.” “Can you put it in the cage too, while you’re at it?”

I pinned the bug down so it couldn’t move and held my face up to it to finish the authentication. (Face ID confirmed.) Ding. “Finally got through.”

“Oh, there’s an email.” “Are you kidding me. I have to go in. Today’s my day off.” I put the smartphone — cage and all — into my locker at work.

“Finally done.” “Sorry for calling you in on such short notice.” “Can’t be helped. Judy called in sick.” “See you tomorrow.”

I opened my locker with an exhausted body and took the smartphone out of the cage. The thing in my palm seemed somehow much weaker than it had been that morning. Its legs barely moved. Right. I’d left it locked in a steel locker all day. Poor reception in there.

(Sorry.)

fin.

Afterword

A smartphone that won’t do what you want. A smartphone you’d rather not look at. A smartphone you resent. A smartphone you adore.

Which smartphone is yours?

Or else a bug.

This piece was written with the assistance of an AI writing program, primarily in translating the original Japanese into English.