James woke up the next day about 10 AM feeling refreshed. His twitchy tailbone turned its twitching on again, and this time he could feel it rubbing against his boxers and wiggling between the tops of his butt cheeks. James wasn't going to let a bit of swelling dampen his good mood this morning, though! The sun was bright, his bed smelled familiar, and the sounds of the morning were cinematic. He could hear birds chirping, breezes blowing, leaves rustling, dogs barking, pedestrians walking, and bacon sizzling next door. Taking a deep breath, he could SMELL bacon sizzling next door. His stomach rumbled. He heard water dripping in his shower, and in the kitchen faucet, and in Mr. Mezzolado's bathtub downstairs. He could even hear Shruti scolding Snowflake who was begging for bacon next door. James giggled. The sounds of his neighborhood were almost like a song.
BEEEEEDL-EEDL-EEDL-EEEP !!!!
The sound of James's phone going off was a rude awakening from his silent attentiveness, to say the least. The piece of junk was louder than ever had been, even on high volume! It was so loud that James howled and reflexively covered his ears, to no avail. "HEY, KEEP IT DOWN UP THERE!" yelled Mr. Mezzolado. Heart racing, James grabbed his phone and shoved down the answer button.
"HEY, MAN, WASSUP DUDE?" James instantly recognized the voice of his best friend Jorge but winced because even the receiver was too loud. He turned the call volume down almost to silent and laid it an arms length from him across the bed; it might as well have been on speaker.
"James? You there man?"
"Yeah, Jorge, what's up? You up this early?"
"Like, yeah bro, it's almost 10:30. You goin' back to the circus today?"
"I dunno, it's gonna be there for a couple of more days I think. I think I'm gonna start pilin' on the pounds if I start goin' there everyday."
"Yeah, man, you were like an animal at those concession stands last night! I think Tim and Keesha wanna go back today. You sure you don't wanna come, man? Keesha thinks your spicy neighbor Shruti might be gonna be there."
"Sounds great, dude, but I think I'll pass. I kinda wanna check out the park today or maybe hit the woods. You go have fun! I'll totally text you guys if I have service."
"Sure thing, home-dawg. I got a call waiting from Keesha already. Jorge out!"
James found it a tremendous relief to be off the phone and placed the device in airplane mode almost immediately on hanging up. He stretched, threw off the blankets and hurried into the restroom.