“No, no, don’t use a blow-dryer on them. That will melt the electronics on the inside,” she said into the phone, smiling at the elderly lady standing in front of the counter. “Dry them off with a towel. Get a bag of rice.... Yes, rice. Put the phone and the iPod in a bowl and cover them with rice.... No, don’t cook the rice. Dry rice will absorb the moisture. Make sure they are turned off first and cover the bowl with something. Leave them covered for a day or so, and they should dry out. Call me if that doesn’t work.”
Mara hung up and turned her attention to the contraptions on her counter, an old overhead projector and a purple-stained hand-crank printer with a large drum.
“Sorry about that, Mrs. Dalton,” she said.
The elderly lady’s knobby finger wagged back and forth in time with he
