Naked to his (freshly toweled waste), languished and lavished he came out. He stayed at home tonight because he had a few more hours to kill until his buddy arrived, and she didn't seem to mind. Green blinking light on the phone indicated voicemail. He listened to it, and the fast speaking conveyed the news almost before the words put the bottom line into context: let-down. More than that too, something else in the tone beneath the words make some implication that made his head go "wtf." The past week of enthusiasm too - or lack thereof - belayed intention's actual framework: probable talk, impulsive, shallow-level. So he called to follow up, got him on the voicemail. Friend answered, tone testing. "Hey, got your voicemail" he said. She listened along side of him. "Yeah I called you hours ago." No shit. I was busy killing time for ya. And his friend repeated the story in 14 words. In 14 words he conveyed some outragious happening, told with the amount of matter-of-factness that you'd tell people that you heard Trayvon Martin's killer was actually NOT the one screaming for help in the background. Some outragious happening that inconvenienced his agenda (and those affected by him) but told with the partiality of a third party. He didn't believe one word of it. Out of self respect, he had to let his brain and his gut carry more clout than this tall tale. Out of respect too, he didn't want to be impolite or discurteous. She was right there, anyway. So for his contribution to the conversation he repeated the story, used his friend's words and ended it with a question mark, then in a flat tone, asserted his judgement. "____ ___ _____? That's queer." His friend agreed, he said I know, and then his friend apologized. He had to wonder how much of an apology you owe if something was truly inconvenient to you and not your fault. He might as well have some fun, maybe make his friend dance? "How often do ___ ____ ___ ___ anyway?" Translation: Hey let's elaborate on how unusual this is - cause I'm going to google what I think and ask my family who's done this work how often they've heard on happening, but first let's investigate probability together you know for fun. So this happening, seems pretty unusual, don't you think? His friend agreed again, and added another outrageous detail. "Probably had something to do with ______" Oh, I see, now his friend was describing a felony. Yes, a queer felony occured and his friend had to be called in to do damage control, because he'll heroically perpetrate his niche. "That's queer." He repeated. He considered challenging the entire thing, he could do it like a ball buster and challenge his friend to deliver any kind of proof, or he could do it in a friendly fashion - let his buddy know there wouldn't really be any angry consequences and it's no big deal just "come on  " It was even on the tip of his tongue. But at this point a judgement was already made. Tonguework with respect to, well anything, takes motivation. "I know." "I'll just-" He responded with the very real consequences, which in themselves were not a big deal. But very honest, and very real - hey ok, this is what right now I will alter. And then he finished with "alright I'll catch you later." How, and in what context he'd have to realize whenever he realized it. But since this wasn't even the first time. . . . "I'm sorry . . . do you hate me?" His friend asked. Now he was certain he had been lied to. He knew his friend well enough to know how he sounded when stressed out, or when he tried his best when his hands were tied. And to consider how this question was manipulative and subjective again, and just asking for it, a different pattern of behavior comes into effect. Time to answer a question with a question. "Do I seem like the type of guy who'd say I'll catch you later to someone I hate?" "No, you do not." He had to understand the lack of contractions too. What a punctuated exchange this was becoming. "Good, then take me seriously when I say it. I'll catch you later." ". . .ok." There was nothing polite more to be said, really. He could get into an application of the word coward, or wallow in the situation, point out how his friend talked him into doing multiple considerations that he would've been an asshole to not, or about how nothing constructive about the fixing of his personally important power supply had been made possible because of his friend's interruption, again. He could point out how more than anything the outragious construct offend him more than the lack of follow through, or that the apology really desired is the one where he comes clean. He could start exploring other more general effects of his friend's politeness, things that actually took ignorance to look past. But his friend's way of being was well suited for his own circles of polite fraternities. Why bother? And that tonguework thing. In his lifetime, at least one lesson about tonguework had already been made. | 
