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What fucking now?
I pulled out my phone but it wasn’t ringing.
Vizz.
I felt the vibration once more and then remembered, pulling out the slim red phone from my suit jacket. It was so thin and so weightless, I often forgot it was on me. Accepting the call, I put it my ear.
“I gave you this phone so you’d call me from time to time,” her voice sounded on the other end. “When you don’t call first, I have to call, and it makes me feel needy.”
“You shouldn’t.” I wanted to say more, but I didn’t know if my parents were watching or not yet.
“I know you can’t say much while you’re there, who knows if your parents watching or not. Right?” She all but read my mind and just like that I could breathe again. “I found out the sex of our kid, do you want to know?”
“Do not toy with me.” Of course I wanted to know and I couldn’t express it any other way without becoming an idiot.
“It’s girl. Of course, I’d be the one to end the Callahan first born male tradition.”
“Not all traditions are necessary.” I grinned and hung my head to hide it. “Where are you now?”
“The motherland.” She laughed. “Somewhere in the Lazio reign, taking a small break. Listening to my grandfather tell his ‘in my day’ stories as my grandmother force feeds me zeppoles and struffoli.”
“Yes, I’m very sure force needs to be used,” I joked. She laughed and it calmed me down.
“Your daughter likes deep fried desserts, what can I say?” My daughter. There was that feeling again in my chest. “I’ll let you go back to your work, I just wanted to let you know—”
“I’m renovating the house.”
The was silence on her end for a brief second “You mean, you want me to renovate…to draw up plans?”
“It is your job, isn’t it?” Mrs. Callahan was supposed to choose how the house looked and so she would.
“Do I get one of those wife budgets?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you sound…off. Was your day really that bad? Then again, it’s Thanksgiving in the States. Be careful, we are twice as likely to kill our family members during the holidays than any other time of the year.”
“Completely reasonable,” I said, standing and moving to my window. “I’ll call you next time.”
“It’s all I ask,” She said softly, “Happy Thanksgiving. I love you.”
Just like that she hung up. This was the second time she told me that then hung up without listening for a reply but then again, I couldn’t say it back. I couldn’t even tell her happy birthday, but at least I could give her a gift. I could let her build the house she wanted to be waiting for her when we got here.
CALLIOPE - AGE 22
Seoul, South Korea
Monday, December 31st
I watched the snow slowly sink towards the earth from the sky. All the lights made it impossible to the see the stars. Despite the how high I was above the ground, I could hear the voices from all those on the street below. They looked like a parade of ants.
Ring.
“Happy New Year,” I said into the phone when I answered.
“There’s still five more minutes here.” His voice, as always, was calm, steady, with that natural coldness…it was comforting to hear.
“I know, I still have five minutes too,” I replied.
