Jessie was by the pool the whole time. By his pool. Alma was there, too. Otherwise, no one really knew where she lived. Inside her phone, apparently. Jessie told her off. It was a long-term educational undertaking: ‘It’s really bad manners to be on your phone when you’re with someone. If you were a man, you’d be a jerk. Which person are you prioritising? Think about it: the one who is absent, or the one who is physically present? Can you really count the time you spend on the phone as quality time? Do you consider that you are with the person to whom you are speaking at a distance? Do you really consider that you can call it time spent together when it’s on the phone?’ In Solange’s opinion, he overused the interrogative. And when he kept going, making quotation mark signs with his fingers, she screwed up her eyes in pain. ‘Don’t you think the physical presence is the most important part? You don’t speak to someone in the same way when their body is absent as you do when their body is present.
