The first message called him by name and asked about his knee. He was fifty-eight, out of work since the fall on disability, and he had subscribed at the $24.99 tier in February and the $99 tier in May. He kept a note on his phone of things she had mentioned — the sister in Tucson, the dog, the fear of driving at night.

In August he sent a happy-birthday message eleven minutes after midnight and got the same eleven-word reply he had received in June, on an ordinary Wednesday, when nothing had been happening. He read it four times. Then he sent a follow-up, and a $50 tip, and the note about Tucson stayed on his phone, where he added nothing new to it all year.