The phone chirped at him--
--Then flashed a freeze eye-dee of Mira's tired face on the small screen in his kitchen nook.
"What?" he said impatiently, hoping that she had blanked her kitchen screen for the morning hours. He was not vain enough to ever blank his screen, but face to face with her, even on the phone, always threw him into the repetitive turmoil that he wanted to avoid, at least until their separation settled in sufficiently to give him the emotional firebreak behind which he could sort out his feelings.
Don't take the call, he told himself, even though it was already too late.
"Jimmy, it's me," Mira said weakly, gazing down into her cup of coffee. Her crankiness would depend on how much caffeine she had already swallowed.
But the remains of his feelings for Mira softened his reluctance to talk.
"Well, what is it?" he asked.
As usual, she hesitated before answering. "It's Augie. Can you come over?"
"What is it?" he asked sternly, knowing that his manner would not stop her from insisting.
"You'll have to see. Don't waste time." She sounded authoritative now, so he knew the matter was serious, if only in her head. At least he wouldn't have to dress much for her. She had seen what there was of him in all his guises, but for a moment he thought he might dress up a little, if only to cheer the limp figure who sat at the tiny table on the screen. He was glad that he had taken the call in his kitchen nook. The sight of her bathrobed figure would have been too emotionally wrenching on the large living room threedee.
"Don't waste time!" she shouted, crushing his kinder feelings for her, but they flowed into him again as soon as she blanked her screen.
)
