How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

Helen wakes up from a dream about being raped to turn off her alarm. She fixes fish and yogurt for breakfast, goes for a run, then takes a nap. When she wakes up the afternoon will be spent reading or writing. She doesn’t care that every 10 hours there is a rollover and the same day starts again, causing many of her words to be “erased” (345). What she, and others, want to save is stored online, the only place where linear time still exists after the quantum proliferation or “prolif” (343). Helen and some other bloggers joke and share stories about life before the prolif (Helen had been a “self-conscious” black woman living in Japan), and pontificate on what caused the prolif in the first place (343). A blogger named Marguille suggests the government purposely caused the prolif and thus remains full of hope that one day “normal reality” will be restored (345). As of now, everyone is trapped in their own “pocket universe” and cannot make physical contact, only digital, and even then, successful contact is “iffy” (346).

Another blogger called “SapphoJuice” emails Helen to say that a poem she posted reminds him of how it used to be and makes him grateful for the prolif.