“Eww, spare me the details Alice. I don’t really want to know what you and Dana do in the bedroom,” Tina said laughing but she noticed Bette’s curious look and added, “but I think Bette wants to know.”

Tina laughed seeing Bette getting redder by the minute and putting the phone down, she pulled Bette closer and whispered in her ear, “I’m only kidding Bette, I’m sorry.”

Bette stiffened from Tina’s closeness but quickly recovered and smiled back, “No, it’s okay, Tina. I just need to learn how to stop blushing every time I hear something I don’t expect. I look so ridiculous with a red face.”

“I think you look cute,” Tina replied, looking at Bette with affection. They continued to stare at each other with an intense gaze and Tina was about to step closer towards Bette, when she heard Alice screaming on the phone, “Tina, Tiiiiiinaaaa, where are you? Are you still there?”

Tina sighed and put the phone back to her ear, not taking her eyes off of Bette. She smiled at Bette warmly and said, “I’m here Alice. Hey, could you do me a favor? I need to go to work on Wednesday for a couple of hours…do you mind staying with Bette? I don’t want to leave her alone right now.”

“Sure,” Alice replied enthusiastically, “I would love to. I was actually rewarded a week of paid vacation by my editor for, as he put it ‘a really superb article on the Professor Kroll experiments’, so I’ll be free this whole week and can help you anytime you need.”

“Thanks Al, see you Wednesday then…around noon,” Tina hung up the phone and showed it to Bette again. “This button disconnects the phone when you are finished with the conversation.”

Bette smiled with excitement, “Amazing, this is all so simple and so incredible. Can I do it again?” Tina just smiled and Bette spent another hour calling random numbers in the phone book just to hear voices on the other end of the phone.

“This is so amazing,” Bette repeated again, “I don’t have to write a person to ask how they have been and then wait weeks for the letter to be delivered…simply amazing. So, what’s next?”