“Could someone come in an hour early?” sounds like a small question.
Sometimes it is.
Sometimes the real question is:
Could one family rearrange itself slightly so that another does not fall apart on Tuesday?
Nobody asks it like that because nothing would ever get done.
People dress the request properly. They give it shoes. They add “if possible,” “no pressure,” and an invitation to be honest.
Then the main character sends it and watches the top of the screen to see whether the other person is typing.
This may be the least dignified modern form of prayer.
Three moving dots.
Gone.
Three moving dots again.
Gone.
Perhaps she is considering it.
Perhaps the phone has been placed down while she asks someone else.
Perhaps the message was opened by mistake and she is now walking around the house trying not to look available.
Eventually, the answer arrives.
A polite refusal.
He replies with the modern equivalent of “understood.”
There are, in fact, worries.
Several.
But none of them are the other person’s fault, so he keeps them.