The Blue

I was sitting at my desk, fuming about answer citizens phone calls about shit they don't understand when the phone rang. I saw it was my secretary, so I picked up.

"Let me see if I get this right. There's a Najma on the phone for you."

Najma. Fuckin' Najma. I hadn't talked to Najma in 4 good years. Her husband called me at work once. Threatened to kill me. I believed him too. He was a sheriff's deputy for Ke.nt Cou.nty. Complete asshole. Huge Pe.nn S.tate fan, even though he was just there for the ride when she was getting her PhD. I asked that cat "Is it worth going to jail for life for an unfaithful wife?"

And here she was on the phone. Fuckin' Najma.

"OK. Put her through."

"Hey....how are you?" "I'm great. Never been better. What's up?" "Nothing...."

I'm waiting for her to tell me why she's called. I don't wanna be rude. I really don't. Even though she was messing around with me and left hints so that her "neglectful" husband would find out and show some emotion where she was involved.

I was giving her the courtesy only because I've known her since we were in 10th grade. I didn't know if she was calling me to tell me if her mother died or one of her 14 siblings. I didn't wanna bite her head off right away. So I waited.

"Najma, why are you calling me?" "Intuition. Women's intuition. Something told me to call you. To see if you were OK."

"You got the answer. I'm fine. Everything's good with me."

"OK."

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you later." I had no intention of talking to her later, but I've never ended a phone conversation properly any other way.


Be Up,
KZ