Phylloxera was the yellow root louse that devastated Bordeaux’s vineyards in the late 1870s.

You needed friends. A dead phone provided no companionship; an empty house no comfort. The latest fashions provided no food, but you could always eat a close friend.

Small talk had been replaced by a general reminiscence that people called “remember when.” “Remember when there was electricity?” “Remember when we could crap indoors?” “Remember when mutants didn’t roam the land trying to eat your face off?