Connection

Darius had a thing about voicemail... It pissed him off.

So when he spotted a friend on the next block just after leaving a message for him, he decided to connect old school.

"REGGIE!" He bellowed.

Reggie didn't react... Maybe he didn't hear.

Darius kicked it up a notch. "REGGIE!"

Still no reaction... Maybe the motherf***er was voice-screening as well as call-screening.

"HEY, REGGIE!" Louder still.

I wondered if Reggie had gone deaf... From having friends like this. But he must have reacted. Although I didn't hear the response... Or much of anything else... After Darius, my ears needed recovery time.

"TURN ON YOUR PHONE!"

And he must have, because the shouting stopped.

Dangerous disrespect diffused, the two friends continued walking... Absorbed in cellular conversation channeled through a tower, which was farther away from both of them than they were from each other.

Can your hear me now?