He lay curled up in his bed all cozy and warm clutching his cell phone to his ear as if I t were the only connection to a special, secret world that only he had access to. His relaxed yet fragile expression showed how careful he was being not to lose the connection. I watched from the doorway, trying to hide my fury, but he just ignored me altogether. I walked cautiously into the room and crawled onto the bed, rejoicing in the creaks of the bed obviously interrupting his call. He instantly turned his back to me, cradling his phone ever closer. I had to try harder to mask my anger.

He continued on with his conversation, acknowledging me only by ignoring me. Silent tears ran down my cheeks as he chuckled at whatever the other world was saying. I wanted to pull him back into the house, back into my world where the cell didn’t exist but I did and that was enough to keep him happy. I stared at the growing bald spot on his head, knowing that his head would be lush with brown hair if he lived his life on the other side of his cell all the time, with the person he was talking to and the others like her.

“Uh, listen,” My father spoke softly, “I was sort of interrupted. Can I call you back? ‘Bye.” He hung up and stared dreamily at his cell for just a second too long. “What is it, sweetie?” He covered his irritation in a tone sweeter than honey.
“It was nothing, dad, nothing.” I got up and quietly crept out of the room.

In the next room over I listened to the low, sincerely sweet murmur of one side of a conversation. I heard the click of his cell closing followed by hasty footsteps; dad preparing to cross over to his special, secret world.

Dad rushed through the room on his way out the front door stopping long enough to pull his tie over his bulging stomach. He kept going but stopped in the doorway, letting me see the glint in his eyes. “I won’t be too long.” He said, then turned to go, like so many times before.