there was never a sound out of ’em….not a word…not a beep…nothin’…he’d just sit there in silence…lookin’ at the phone the whole time…waitin’ on it to ring…he wanted that phone to ring…

but it never rang…no calls ever came through…sometimes it’d look like he was ’bout to reach out to someone…he’d pick it up…look at it…study it for a little bit…then put it down…go back to lookin’ at it….

369-0416…., he’d mouth the numbers…,369-0416…, silently he’d repeat that number at times…lips barely movin…just ‘nough to make it out that these were numbers….put his finger on the digits as his mouth motioned…,369-0416…,could never complete the call…

everybody in town wondered what happened to him when she went away…his body and soul were taken over by this quietness…this awkward quietness….women would say hello to him…men would tip their hats…but there was no response…just kept lookin’ at that phone…waitin’….waitin’…

just waitin’…