Middle of the night phone calls always have interesting overtones. I have to admit, since college, the calls occur less and less frequently. But there is an air of excitement about them, a sense of mystery, the sudden effect of surprise.
Yesterday I laid on the couch and watched movies all day, and actually headed to bed around 11. I couldn’t sleep. My head was pounding, my throat was burning, I couldn’t breathe, I hate being sick. There wasn’t any reason to try to sleep–sleep wasn’t going to come. Drew called around midnight and said he would call after he got home from the David Lee Roth concert. But when the phone rang, it wasn’t him.
The caller ID said it was my ex, and wide awake as I was, I answered. Strangely enough, no one responded. I could hear the chatter in the background, like a party or TV on, and someone was listening. I hung up, thinking maybe it was a bad connection and called back. Someone answered, and I heard the same background static. But still, no one said anything.
So the question I pose is this: why does someone who has always been suspicious of my motive make the effort to call (after months without speaking) and not say anything at 1:47 in the morning? Talk about reason to be suspicious. That’s just weird. When Drew called, I told him (partly because it was plain old interesting and partly because I want to be above reproach) and he thought it was weird, too. I have to admit, as well as I once knew my ex, and as good a friends as we should be (but really aren’t), you’d think I’d understand a middle of the night phone call from Dallas. I just don’t.
