When I asked whether he could come home early, he said the arrangements were difficult.

When I asked him to call the unit at a time we agreed on, he said the reception was unreliable.

I did not know what could reasonably be changed about the itinerary.

I knew he had found enough connection to post photographs and respond to other people.

That difference kept returning, no matter how patiently I tried to explain it away.

Once, I asked whether anyone on the ship knew the girls had been born.