DIALOGUE

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Good morning." It was 5:30 in the evening. The sun had just gone down.

"G'mornin' to you too."

"Sleeping?"

"Woke up about five minutes ago... got about three hours."

"Yikes. Am I keeping you up?"

"Not at all. What's up? How was work?"

"Work was work. How about you?"

"The same. What are you doing tonight? I remembered you mentioning going over to your brother's pad... he has some furniture for you."

"Yep. I'm supposed to meet him later. I'm driving home right now, I have to finish cleaning up my apartment."

"You were supposed to remind me on Sunday-- the vacuum. You were supposed to take it with you. And I was going to help you scrape the burnt plastic off of the heater."

"I know... I've been lagging. You wanna help me clean?"

"You don't have to ask me twice. Come on by, I'll be ready in ten minutes."

Time passed. The doorbell buzzed.

"Hello? Are you decent?"

"Quite. And I'm ready. I've got the vacuum, some Exact-O blades, a spatula, and a huge flat-tip screwdriver. Let's go."

There wasn't that much traffic on the 134 East freeway, even during what is traditionally known as rush hour.

"I really had a lot of fun in Glamis."

"Cool. I did too. And I'm glad you had fun."

"I needed to just get away."

"We have to do it again some time."

"The vibe was just... so crazy... like Burning Man with bikes. It was like overstimulation."

"Yeah, I can only take it in short episodes. I couldn't stay for a whole week, like Paulie and them."

"Unless we had quads..."

Laughter erupted.

"That would be sweet, wouldn't it? I'm not much of a rider at all, but I wouldn't mind jumping on the back of one and taking it for a spin. It would definitely be fun."

"I know."

"Now that you've seen it for yourself, you can make up your mind about it."

"I told my therapist about it-- she was trippin' on me pretty hard. 'You should write this down, Eve'... I was going on and on about it, it was so funny..."

"Right on."

"And the way it all ended Saturday night... it just had to end like that. It just had to."

A cel phone rang.

"Hello? Hey, what's up? We're on our way to my place. James is with me. We're going to clean up my living room. Long story."

A pause.

"Sure, what's up? Yeah? Sure. Yeah, no problem. However, let me ask James something real quick."

She put her hand over the receiver.

"My brother wants to borrow my camera to film a three-minute audition piece. Would it be okay if we used your camera, since it's digital? Plus, I don't have any tape."

"Yeah, that's fine. After we finish cleaning, we can head back to my place and grab the camera."

She took her hand off of the receiver.

"Hello? Yeah, James said it's cool if we use his camera. It's the same as mine, but his is digital. Mine's just a Hi-8. I'll be over there later. Okay, love ya too. Bye."

She hung up the cel phone.

"Thanks. Also, I was wondering-- do you have any mini-tapes?"

"You mean microtapes? For microtape recorders?"

"Microtapes, mini-tapes, whatever. Do you have any laying around?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. The answering machine I used to have, the one that broke. There's a tape in there."

"Excellent. Can I borrow it?"

"You can have it. What's it for?"

"I have to tape the messages that I saved on my phone, the ones from Dick. I'm going to court tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh shit, the first of December. That's right."

"Yeah, hopefully if I produce those in court, I can enforce this restraining order a little bit more. He hasn't come around but he still calls every now and then."

"I see... Well, good luck with tomorrow."

"Thanks. I need it."

It didn't take long to scrape the residue of burned carpet off the metal grate of the heater, nor to sweep up all the debris. It was meticulous work, but it didn't take long at all. At least, it didn't seem like a long time...

"I'm so sorry that I left the rug on the heater grate."

"It wasn't just you... I turned the heater on, you know. I should've checked."

"When you told me what happened, I felt sooooo bad."

"Don't. Shit happens, you know?"

"Your optimism astounds me."

"What else are ya gonna do, eh?"

"True."

The ride back was just as smooth and effortless as anything under the sun.

"Have fun with the camera. I'm going to get ready for work. I have some time to kill, but I know you have to get up early... Do you have to work after the court hearing?"

"Probably. But I'll call you when I'm all done."

"Please do. I'll be at home, sleeping. I'm going to get off of this gnarly schedule soon."

"How long has it been?"

"About six months."

"I don't know how you do it."

"Well, here's where I get off. See ya."

A kiss on the lips, short but sweet.

"Be safe."

"You too. Drive carefully."

"I will."

Neither of them said the words they wanted to say, because they didn't want to ruin the moment with maudlin sentiments. They were content to let the meaning absorb into the words, to be able to transmit the message without actually having to give it a label or a descripton.

"Bye."

"Bye."

They went their separate ways, but it was clear that they would rather be with each other than stuck with obligations and chores and tasks.