Fiction

Face to Face

Published Nov 24, 2022 Updated Nov 24, 2022 Culture

12 min

CREATIVE ROOM

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Face to Face

Anita Moskát

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Translator: Austin Wagner

Fancy dinner at the Duomo, Dóri? Flights now available from 20€!

I see the personalized ad and freeze. There we are, dazzling white tablecloth, pizza glistening in front of us, the mozzarella lacquered into place. And we’re smiling. Of course we are. According to the algorithm, this is how we toast the Italian sunset. The models’ bodies are inaccurate, as usual. The woman’s breasts are quite a bit bigger than mine, the man’s shoulders too broad, but they’re wearing our faces, letting me imagine ourselves in Milan. My hand is shaking, I scroll on so I don’t drop my phone to the ground. When I left the house I’d turned off location data. It never would’ve shown me an ad for flights if it knew I was sitting in the urgent care clinic.

My nostrils are crammed