"So yes, they do have a song about you. Isn't that strange?"

It seemed the least of Heathcliff's problems. His tight scowl tightened further, the warbling Kate Bush flouting about the YouTube video's confines. I smiled, awkwardly, stifling the rising urge to wail along dramatically. But the song did not perturb Heathcliff nearly as much as the sight of a video playing on a laptop. His fingers pressed brutishly upon the E key, hesitant in the way a caveman might be to touch an open flame.

The world was not as Heathcliff knew it. Torn from the era of his book, the sound of passing cars terrified him, the groan of distant construction pricked his ears. A metaphorical cat exposed to the reality of modern living.

But at that moment, Kate Bush proved too much. With a grunt of displeasure, Heathcliff slammed the lid of the laptop down with a chaotic thud. I winced.

"Why has it all changed?!" He bellowed. Not wanting to spark more agitation, I slid my phone behind me. I had just paid for it and I was not about to lose it to a temperamental book character.

"Things just...got better?" My flimsy excuse proved how little I knew to answer the question. Heathcliff sneered, dissatisfied.

"Oh, have they?" He retorted with snide contempt for my feeble answer. But he had a point. In an odd way I didn't know if all aspects of modernity had indeed improved. Perhaps because I'd be quite keen to ride in a horse and carriage, touting a top hat and monocle. I scoured my thoughts for answers, and lit up when I found one hiding in the creases of my brain.

"Yes!" I proudly declared, and gestured to the shut laptop. "With this, I can speak with absolutely anyone, from any country and at any time I want! I can listen to all the music that exists, look at photographs that won't fade away, watch moving pictures that move like memories! Isn't that better than having none of that at all?"

Heathcliff appeared to consider it for a brief moment.

"Then why go and speak to anyone at all? If you can do it from the comfort of indoors?"

Yet another good point that I struggled to answer with as much confidence. Defeated, I sagged, and pointed toward the kitchen.

"We can keep food cold now. And cooking is easier."

A pitiful cry from my charismatic attempt to sway Heathcliff's opinion. But at the very least, I could show him the joy of a good tub of ice cream and a round of Netflix.