You have one message
I am all that is left of my self.
Janice calls to me.
I read her note through wet, wet eyes. She said she’d left a message for me on the land line. I walked over to phone in the stunned daze of someone who cannot understand the moment.
There was one light blinking on the phone beside the big green ‘play’ button. I put my thumb down on it and pressed hard. I kept the pressure on. I stood there like that for fifteen minutes. When I released the button, the message would play.
I took a deep breath, took my thumb off of the button, and stood up straight as the machine lit up and whirred into motion.
Janice sprung to life in front of me. A little more blue than normal with an occasional stutter. It was an old phone that I didn’t have the money or the time to replace it.
She told me that she was leaving me because she was sick of me and the life we were living. She was sick of all the time I spent at work. She was sick of the cheap apartment and the cheap food. She was getting older and she wanted to have some fun before she got too old.
Most of all, she was sick of me not getting the hints she had been throwing my way for the last six months. She said to not try to find her and that I should try to forget her.
She probably shouldn’t have left me a recording of her.
I watch the recording every night before I go to bed. I watch it and look for a clue in the depths of her eyes that she’s kidding. I watch if and look for hope in her eyes that I’ll change. I watch it and look for a possibility of her return.
I never find it. Drunk or sober, I can tell that she means what she’s saying.
I have a beard now. My place is a mess. I was fired two weeks ago and I can’t pay the rent this month. Soon I’ll be homeless.
I am all that is left of my self.
Janice calls to me.
tags
Janice calls to me.
I read her note through wet, wet eyes. She said she’d left a message for me on the land line. I walked over to phone in the stunned daze of someone who cannot understand the moment.
There was one light blinking on the phone beside the big green ‘play’ button. I put my thumb down on it and pressed hard. I kept the pressure on. I stood there like that for fifteen minutes. When I released the button, the message would play.
I took a deep breath, took my thumb off of the button, and stood up straight as the machine lit up and whirred into motion.
Janice sprung to life in front of me. A little more blue than normal with an occasional stutter. It was an old phone that I didn’t have the money or the time to replace it.
She told me that she was leaving me because she was sick of me and the life we were living. She was sick of all the time I spent at work. She was sick of the cheap apartment and the cheap food. She was getting older and she wanted to have some fun before she got too old.
Most of all, she was sick of me not getting the hints she had been throwing my way for the last six months. She said to not try to find her and that I should try to forget her.
She probably shouldn’t have left me a recording of her.
I watch the recording every night before I go to bed. I watch it and look for a clue in the depths of her eyes that she’s kidding. I watch if and look for hope in her eyes that I’ll change. I watch it and look for a possibility of her return.
I never find it. Drunk or sober, I can tell that she means what she’s saying.
I have a beard now. My place is a mess. I was fired two weeks ago and I can’t pay the rent this month. Soon I’ll be homeless.
I am all that is left of my self.
Janice calls to me.
tags