“Hello?”

“Hey Mona.”

“What?”

“What what?”

“Why are you calling me at this hour?”

“What hour is it?”

“Three in the morning.”

“Oh shit. How the hell did it get so late?”

“Are you drunk?”

“Are you drunk?”

“I was asleep.”

“Well that just seems like an acceptable act at three in the morning.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m lonely.”

“Get a pet.”

“Animals have a way of dying around me.”

“Get a plant.”

“Brown thumb.”

“From the years spent on the Southside?”

“That seems vaguely racist.”

“Vaguely.”

“Want to hang out? We could go breakfast.”

“Are you serious?”

“It’s the best time to go out.”

“Are you feeling manic again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mike. Are you tapping your toes like crazy? Does everything seem beautiful and scary?”

“I may be slightly manic.”

“You need meds.”

“And lose this aspect of life? No thanks. I spend so much time down I need this up.”

“But what if the ups and downs balanced out?”

“But would they?”

“I don’t know. I’m not bipolar.”

“That makes two of us.”

“What will it take to get you to let me go back to sleep?”

“I’m sorry. Go back to sleep. I’m going to draw or something.”

“What are you going to draw?”

“Something shitty. Or write something shitty. I don’t know. My mind is racing.”

“When did you sleep last?”

“Yesterday. Day before? I don’t quite remember.”

“This is not healthy. Have you eaten?”

“I cooked.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“It was not.”

“So have you?”

“All signs point to yes.”

“Do not answer me with that goddamned eight ball.”

“Ask again later.”

“I knew this was coming. I saw the writing on the walls.”

“It’ll wash off.”

“What will?”

“Oh. I thought you meant the poem I wrote on the wall.”

“You wrote a poem on the wall of your place?”

“No. That’s insane.”

“Why did you write a poem on the wall?”

“I’m insane?”

“That sounded like a question.”

“Did it?”

“Mike. You worry me when you get like this. Have you been drinking?”

“No.”

“Mike?”

“A little.”

“Michael.”

“Yes Mona?”

“No more. Have you got drugs in the house?”

“I feel like you are going to get mad at me if I answer.”

“What kind?”

“None.”

“Did you take them all?”

“That feels like a trap as well.”

“Oh fuck me.”

“You don’t like tabs. You prefer slots.”

“Slots?”

“Well, we could go to the riverboat.”

“No. Damn it.”

“I’m sorry I called. Go back to sleep now. I’m going to sketch.”

“I’m awake now.”

“Then what do you want to talk about? Ever go to the botanical gardens? It’s like a big park. But they charge for you to get in. It’s like a zoo bit the plants are the animals. I don’t think I like it. Except the bamboo forest and little yin yangs they carve into the stone.”

“Okay. I’m not that awake.”

“Breakfast then?”

“You’re impossible.”

“I know where they make the best pancakes in town.”

“Where?”

“This barbeque joint.”

“Really?”

“Oh God yes. So good.”

“I do like pancakes.”

“After that we can go to the botanical gardens.”

“Are either place open at this time?”

“Oh. Shit. No.”

“I feel like you shouldn’t be left alone.”

“I’m fine.”

“But are you?”

“Probably.”

“Call me when you wake up and we can go get pancakes. My treat.”

“Okay. Try and get some sleep.”

“Will do.”

“Really?”

“Sure. And if not I will stare at the ceiling and think about pancakes and wait for your call.”

“That sounds more likely.”

“Yes it does.”

“Well try for me at least.”

“Deal. Sweet dreams Mona. Sorry I called so late. Or early. Or at all.”

“It’s cool Mikey. Sort of.”

“I really need to clean the writing off the wall.”

“Got a new one brewing already?”

“Two or three.”

“Even though it is pretty fucked up, your mind is pretty cool.”

“Sometimes.”

“Sometimes.”

“Not at three in the morning.”

“Well, not at three in the morning to others. No.”

“I forget people can be normal. I think of this as normal and then don’t get what real normal people do.”

“We sleep.”

“So weird.”

“It really isn’t.”

“Maybe.”

“You can lose your mind if you don’t sleep.”

“Yeah. Makes sense. Go to sleep Mona. No need for both of us to be crazy.”

“Okay. You’re not crazy. Not totally. Partially.”

“Somewhat sane.”

“Sure. Pancakes in the morning morning.”

“Yup yup.”