““Along with the phone a device they had installed allowed them to turn down the bell. Should it be used, no matter how urgent or trivial the message, it would not get through, because they wouldn't hear the signal that preceded it. It would be as though they were out of the house, or in a coma, or dead. When they were dead news, no matter how alarming, would no longer concern them. But they were not yet dead, & so could move from place to place, raise their arms, bend the fingers, oppose the thumbs, & switch it off and on.””
