He goes on about his business. He opens the refrigerator and grabs cheese, lunchmeat and bread. From the drawer by the basement door he pulls a knife to spread Miracle Whip.
The answering machine picks up,
“Hey this is Ron. Leave a message at the beep.”
Beep.
“Hey Ron, are you home? ... I guess not. Well this is Becky. Remember? Your sister? Where have you been? I haven’t heard from you in ages. Call me back okay? I love you.”
Beep.
The man finishes making the sandwich and walks through the sitting room to the living room, glancing at the flashing digits of the answering machine.
23.
He sits in the living room and turns on the television. He channel surfs until he finds something interesting to watch.
* * *
Three hours later the phone rings again. The man has dozed off, but is awakened with a start.
“Hey this is Ron. Leave a message at the beep.”
Beep.
“Hey Ron. This is Dave from work. Are you home? The foreman is getting worried about you. It’s almost been a week since you were last here. Anyway, I hope things are okay buddy. And if they are you’re in deep shit. Ha-ha. Bye.”
Beep.
The man stretches and walks back into the kitchen. There are too many dishes in the sink. Nothing to make himself dinner with.
The man sets to work at washing them.
* * *
After a good dinner, the man tidies up the kitchen.
The phone rings again.
“Hey this is Ron. Leave a message at the beep.”
Beep.
“Hey Dad. This is Julia. I’m in town and I thought I’d drop by. Are you home? I hope so. I’ll see you soon.”
Beep.
The man freezes. His heart starts racing. He grabs keys from the key rack and rushes out the back door to the car in the garage.
Garage door goes up. Car turns over. The man hits the gas pedal and throws gravel back into the garage as he quickly vacates the premises.
* * *
A young girl pulls languidly into the driveway no more than five minutes later. She notices the garage door is open.
Dad never leaves it open, she ponders.
Julia gets out of her car and walks to the back door. She tries to open it, but it’s locked.
Dad never locks the back door, she says to herself.
Julia walks to the front door and tries to open it. It’s also locked.
“Dad!” she yells.
She walks to the windows of the living room tapping on the panes. The curtains are drawn, there is no way to see in, but she can see the light from the television glowing through the curtains.
Julia grabs her cell phone and calls her Dad’s number. She hears the ring of the phone accompanied by the all too familiar:
“Hey this is Ron. Leave a message at the beep.”
Beep.
“Dad? Are you home? I’m right outside. I see the TV is on. Please come to the door. I haven’t seen you in so long! Please? Daddy?”
Beep.
A tear hits Julia’s eye as she stands outside the living room window.
* * *
The man crawls by in the car, watching the young girl standing by the living room window. He doesn’t stop.
* * *
Julia gets back into her car. Eyes still wet with tears. She backs slowly out of the driveway and begins her lonely ride home.
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