I called anyway

I had no new result to give my father.

The car had made it home from the shop. I had not tried it again. The inspection sheets still said the same thing: they could not reproduce the failure, and they had made no repair.

The repair message for the sink had not changed either. I could have called him about that. He would have asked what the joint was doing and whether the bowl was still holding the water. The call would have had a problem to organize.

I opened his contact before I could turn the sink into a reason.

He answered after the second ring.

“Did something happen with the car?” he asked.

“No. Nothing new.”

“All right.”

He waited.

The last two times, the next sentence had been ready. I had the clean start, the appointment, and then the result the shop could not give me. This time I had reached him before deciding what the call was for.

“I don't have an update,” I said. “I called anyway.”

There was another short pause.

“Okay,” he said. “How was your day?”

I told him I had finished the file from work. I did not explain the old total or the sentence that had made it sound current. I said the file was done and they could use it.

“Good,” he said.

I asked about his day.

He told me that the grocery store had moved the coffee and he had walked past the new shelf twice before finding it. I asked whether he had found it the third time.

“I asked somebody,” he said.

I laughed. He did too.

The call did not become important after that. We spoke for a few more minutes. He said he needed to put his groceries away. I said I still had to make supper.

Then we ended the call.

He had not asked me to report anything next time. There was no appointment, repair, or result waiting to give the next call a subject.

I left the phone on the counter and took down a pan.