"Lily can you answer the phone?" It rang non-stop, and without someone answering it could, potentially ring forever. Lily jumped up quickly and ran to the phone, she was happy to do anything to get her out of having to sit at the table until her homework was done.
"Hello, Bennett house. This is Lily... Uh..." She turns around to face me. "Mom..." She walked over.
"What sweetie?"
"Uh, it's for you." I take the phone from Lily and hold it with my shoulder.
"This is Marcia Collins." I hold on as tight as I can, but find myself stumbling back a little as Lily untangles herself from the long, curled cord.
"Hi..." His voice was low. Had he said more, I would have had to ask him to repeat it.
"Hi? Can I help you?" Sounding rude was not my intention, and I realized it may have come out that way, but I was juggling two burners, a cat, Lily... and Abby still had not come inside the house.
"Yes," he cleared his throat as if readjusting the volume of his speech. "I'm looking to speak with a Beth Bennett. Is she available?" I could hear the wear of age and cigarettes on his voice. I sat the down the spoon I was holding and grabbed the phone from my shoulder and walked over to the sink.
"I... I'm sorry my moth-" I stopped myself short for some reason. "Beth passed away a few months ago." Her name sounded more appropriate for the situation I guess. No one had called for her in a few weeks now, and it stung a little more than before.
"Oh, well... I." His voice fell again.
I blocked out the commotion around me. The sauce bubbling over the pan and leaving prints. Lily, eating the candy I told her not to eat. That fucking cat, on the counter again. After looking up from it all I got to see my sister, standing there alone in the yard, staring into the sunset painted sky. She looked so happy. In that second, everything else was just... they were just things, and they seemed not to matter.
"I'm sorry," I cleared my throat. "Who may I ask is calling?" My gaze unbroken. I could hear a strange noise on the other end of the line, like he was wetting his lips.
"This is, Dale Bennett." And for a moment, we both hung onto thesilence.
