I had been awake for an hour, but still lay in bed, enjoying the way my body completely relaxed against the flannel sheets, knowing it would be cold outside of the bed and plantar fasciitis would make my feet scream when I put my weight on them. There was a lot to do, but nothing that motivated me to get up. I was satisfied with last night’s late writing jag.
I watched the sky turn from black to pink to blue.
The phone rang. Oh no. Too many times that old red princess phone with no caller ID had brought bad news in the wee hours. My mother about to die. My uncle dead. My husband gone. My father on his way to the hospital . . .
Yesterday a friend’s doctor told him he was dying, that he didn’t have long.
The adrenaline surge ended my relaxation.
“Hello, Susan, this is Lance Deleon from xxxx. Is this a good time to talk?”
He had called before. I had fobbed him off. I still did not know what company he was with or what he wanted. I suspect he wants to help me advertise my books, improve my website, or improve my Google ratings. I know I’m not interested.
“No,” I said. “I’m still in bed.”
He said some stuff I didn’t quite understand because he talked so fast.
“Okay,” I said.
More bla bla.
“Okay.”
“When can I call you?”
“Later.”
“What time is good?”
“Later.”
I hung up and turned on NPR news. Biden, elected Saturday, is forming his transition team. Trump refuses to concede, tweets about fraud. Pfizer has a promising vaccine for the coronavirus, but it will be months . . . stocks are up, the temperature is down in the 30s . . .
The sky had turned gray. I took my morning pills, slid my feet into my fuzzy slippers, and got up. On my office phone, caller ID showed one of those fake numbers from familiar places that I would not have answered if I had seen it. Modesto, California. Yeah, right. “They” know I have family in that area code.
Thank God it wasn’t bad news.
Lance DeLeon would be a wonderful name for a character. Handsome but devious. Hmmm . . .
My shower and breakfast will have to wait. I’ve got writing to do.
Later . . . There was a spider in the shower. While I was eating breakfast, the dog went into full guard dog mode. I jumped up to look out the window and spilled my Red Zinger tea all down the front of me. No one was there. Welcome to Monday.
How are you doing today?
Unleashed in Oregon 
Now that I am retired, I stay up too late at night. I love it after all these years of getting up early. My kids have begun to understand, but those other calls are SO annoying!
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