1For three years after her mother died, Carla never changed the greeting on the old answering machine.
2Whenever she missed her, she called her own flat and listened to that bright, cheerful voice.
3One stormy evening, a sudden power cut wiped the machine's memory, and the precious message disappeared completely.
4Carla sat on the kitchen floor and cried harder than she had since the funeral.
5The next morning, she carried the broken machine to a tiny repair shop near the market.
6The technician, a quiet young man with ink on his fingers, listened to her story without interrupting.
7He told her the recording was gone, but he asked her to leave the machine overnight anyway.
8When Carla returned, he explained that he had worked for the telephone company many years earlier.
9Old greetings were stored on the company's backup servers, he said, and he still knew whom to call.
10Two days later, a small package arrived containing a cassette with her mother's voice on it.
11There was also a note that said he had lost his own father and understood.
12Carla framed the note, and she still visits the shop every Christmas with a cake.