he got it  understood

         

                                  hanging up he stood up from the gossip bench phone table that used to sit in his familys kitchen beside the pantry it was too quaint for his siblingsthey didnt want it 

                                                                               hell he still used their old rotary telephone figured when it failed hed use the heavy black handset as a bludgeonthe curlicue cord as a whip always thinking

his sister called Joe. I wanted you to know . . .

                                                       good news doesnt begin that way                    

he delayed Sis cant remember the last time you called me

I can’t either.

No matter

               You were saying

Yes. I was saying . . you know how . sometimes . . it feels it’s better just to blurt something out . .

. . Rip off the bandage

Yes. The bandage . very apt . .

. . A good appraisal

Yes. Appraisal.

Awright then say so baby

I didn’t know if you knew . . Mom saved all the letters you wrote her and Dad, ever since you left home, letters from the Seventies.

I did not

Yes.

         She had.

I . . I told Dad to leave things bewe’d get to them . .

. . Hes impatient

He is.

He threw them away

He did.

Then thats that

I’m so terribly sorry, Joe.

Thank you

I’m so sorry.

Not on you Sis

                       Frankly not on Dad either

No.  Perhaps not.

another fiveten minutes discussing how the move was goinggetting Dad out of the house he was moving in with his sister with Sis

they hung up

he felt the bench at the back of his knees first thing he felt

                                                                  next thing he feltthought he had sympathy for a vampire a hard stake driven through its heart

lying in bed this morning before rising,  Sunday,  2  1. 21

1031,  Sunday,  2  1. 21

Neil Young  Love in Mind  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp0URt_o0YU