I think I stared at the phone endlessly..like staring at it would make it ring. I even checked it twice to see if it was alive. I then took turn to stare at Bettes side of the bed. Again endlessly. I am sure time has slowed down. I have discovered something smaller than a second. A moment without Betteis the slowest. I read, I watched TV, I pretended to sleep..but I cant. All I can think of is why didnt she call me, where is she? and then I heard the phone..ring!

It was like musicI stared at it before it rang twice, I thought maybe I was hallucinatingthen I picked it up. I heard the sweetest voice in the world. Bette said.How is my baby? Last one hour I wanted to cry and I was sure I would once I heard her..but as she said it, I smiled. She has that effect on me. I never know what emotion would she draw out of me. Its always a surprise. I said, I missed her. She said she loved me. We said the same thing taking turns in different ways. Even when we were quiet, we said the same thingover and over again. I said I hated her job – I meant, I miss her. I asked her how did her day goI meant, I love her. She said she hated her job too – she meant, she misses me. She asked me if I was asleep, she meant, she loves me! Same thing- different way, over and over again.

As I heard her voice, her whisper, her breathing through the silence.things became more real. She said shed talk to me, read to me, whisper to metill I fall sleep. She said she wanted to touch me. Shes so sweet. Shes my life. She made me laugh as she explained the funny observations from her travel, from her day. I did cry, but I cried because I was laughing so hard. I had to plead to make her stop. Then she was silent. I love this silence. I know if she was beside me, shed use the silence to look into my eyes and then kiss me. I know this silence. I know shes happy to hear me laugh. She said she missed me. I said, I loved her. She talks to me for a long time. Till I almost fall sleepwith one hand on her side of the bed. I fall sleep with her whisperI love you T, she said. I felt loved. I felt herand so I could sleep.