Randi

Again, he gave up trying to think it through as his 'home remedy' was ready. He poured the warm liquid into a glass, took a first sip, then headed back upstairs to give it another go.

Out of sheer curiosity, he opened his laptop, brought up Facebook, or more specifically, Messenger, and sure enough, there was a reply from Randi. No longer interested in going to sleep, he sat down the glass of milk, and opened her message.

"Dear David, Now you see, you've opened a kind of Pandora's Box here. I, too, am very interested in politics, and when I find someone else who is, I find myself drawn to them, unless they're on the far Right or the far Left, in which case I either look for a way to get out of any kind of discussion or show them my sharpened claws!

Most people put politics in the category of religion and would rather poke themselves in the eye with a sharp stick than talk about either one. I'm not much on religion, but I still find it to be an interesting topic. Politics, on the other hand, has been my passion since Jason helped open my eyes to the truth. Please notice I didn't spell 'truth' with a capital 'T' as I'm not sure absolute Truth exists. Many strongly assert that it does, but assertions not supported by empirical evidence are nothing more than bold claims. Hey, maybe I should have been a political science or philosophy major instead of a chemist!

So now I find myself intrigued by the nice-looking (okay, yes, older—but only 'older than me') man from Montana. Or would that be the man originally from the Seattle area who's lived in Montana for many years?

I could ask many more such 'deep, probing' questions, but I'm still not 100% convinced I'm not annoying you, so I'll give you a break—for now. But be forewarned, if you get me into a discussion on politics, I probably will drive you crazy! Hey, then you could join me as 'crazy' is where I've been living the last couple of years. (I hope you know I'm teasing as I'd never make light of something as serious as losing the person we loved the most. I guess you've helped draw out my sense of humor again, such as it is. So don't blame me if I am driving you crazy because it's clearly your fault, David!)

Sign me 'Sleepless in Seattle' or Randi—whichever you prefer. :-)"

It was around 1am when he finished his next reply.

"Hi, Randi. I'm not doing so well with the whole sleep thing here, either. Maybe I'm more concerned about my dad than I care to admit. Then again, maybe something has captivated my attention and that's the reason I can't sleep. Or rather some...one."

He didn't elaborate as it seemed over the top to come right and tell her it was her, or more aptly, her thoughts and ideas, he found so captivating.

"I couldn't agree more about the 'crazy' thing. I thought I might literally lose my mind when Ruby died. With her illness, I had some time to prepare myself although you can't really get prepared for that kind of loss. In your case, you had no warning at all, and again, my heart really goes out to you as I can only imagine how gawd-awful that must have been. I also want to say how much I admire you for being so strong in the face of so much adversity. You may not feel that way, but let me assure you, you are a very strong woman, and Chloe is fortunate to have you.

Your comments on politics intrigue me. I'm dying to ask where you stand, but it might be more fun to wait and discuss this in person. Let me just say very quickly that I, too, shun the 'whacko bird' extremists like the phony Native American senator from Massachusetts or the Texas senator an Arizona senator actually referred to as a whacko bird. The senator from Arizona is also now gravely ill from the same kind of brain tumor my wife had, and while I don't agree with him on much, I do wish him all the best.

I find myself agreeing the Republicans on a bunch of important issues and siding with Democrats on others, but I am neither an elephant nor a donkey, although I have been called an 'ass' more than once, but that's another story!

Based on what you said about religion, it sounds like we may be pretty much in synch on that topic. If so, then you must be a very intelligent young woman! :)

My daughter is flying in soon along with her boyfriend I haven't met, so between wrapping things up at work and them visiting, I may not have a lot of time to check for messages or write back. But I really am looking forward to meeting you and learning more about what it is you feel so passionate about.

And thanks again for trying to make me feel less...fogey-ish! It's interesting that when we age we still feel very young and tend to think of ourselves as still being much younger than we really are. And yet when we're young we want to be thought of as being older.

To whatever degree I don't look geezerly, I'll attribute it to having never smoked, drinking only rarely and in moderation, and to a healthy diet and exercise. I try and do something 4-5 times a week like swimming or riding a stationary bike or light weights, but I don't see myself doing Yoga with you or your mom. She claims you're the one who got her hooked on it, btw. I'm not saying I wouldn't try it, I just don't see myself in in a pair of tights or 'Downward Dog' too often. :)

Well, I'm now the one who's clearly rambling, but it's well after 1am, and at this point I'm pretty sure I won't be getting any sleep tonight. I hope you have better luck than me! Take care, David."

Randi was still wide awake when she heard the 'ding' indicating she had a notification. She smiled when she saw who it was from and opened it immediately. She kept smiling through every line then quickly wrote a reply.

"I was so happy to get a reply from you as I'm not having any luck sleeping, either. I could try and blame it on Chloe, but she sleeps very soundly so perhaps it's due to something else. Like...someone who's saying things I find...captivating. :-)

No worries on being too busy. I'm glad you have work and family. I'll be spending Christmas Eve with my dad and his girlfriend (yuck!) and Christmas morning with my mom (double yuck!) Oooh, did I just say that? :-)

I'll be taking bets on how long it'll be until something reminds her of the new president or his administration sending her into a rant! Chloe's too young to understand, and as long as there are presents under the tree, she'll be in heaven. I, however, will feel like I'm in a much warmer place where the guy with the horns and pitchfork lives! I really need to stop being so negative, but it's hard when every single issue turns into a diatribe. (Big sigh in Seattle.)

I don't know why you keep bringing up your age. I'm really getting tired of hearing about your 'geezerlyness' so, seriously, give it a rest already, would ya?"

Randi added several emojis of old men with no hair even though David had a full, thick headful of it that was still very dark and that looked quite nice.

"I understand the wanting to be/feeling older/younger thing. I guess at 28, I'm in the middle where I don't want to be thought of as older anymore, but I also don't want people thinking of me as a kid. But something tells me this has been a part of life for as long as people have been around. You know, all 6,000 years worth, right? Oooh. Did I just say that, too?"

She added a bunch of happy smiles then finished up.

"Maybe you can answer one of my many 'deep' questions. I'll give you some time to think it over, okay? Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?"

More smiley faces.

"I've pretty much given up on sleep tonight myself. If I knew you better, I'd ask if I could call you so we could share our misery together! But that might be a little on the weird side so I'll spare you. (See how magnanimous I can be?) See you soon—I hope. Randi."

Eaton got the reply in less than five minutes and like her, he smiled from beginning to end. But unlike her, he felt an old familiar stirring he hadn't experienced in well over a year. He adjusted the position of his laptop to compensate for the 'rising tide' below then sat there wondering whether or not he should send her his phone number. Were she not to call he'd feel pretty certain she thought he was some kind of idiot who didn't understand she was just making small talk. But if she did call him what would that mean? Or would it mean anything at all other than two lonely people killing time?

He sat there for another minute before making a 'what the heck' kind of decision before typing out his phone number and adding, "Misery loves company."

It took him another minute to hit 'send' then less than a second to feel the worst kind of regret; the kind that comes from making a colossal...ass...out oneself.

"Well, Randi will now just be one more person to call me that," he said out loud as he set his laptop on the nightstand.

When he did, the sheet covering his naked body 'came to life' much like a snake that had been charmed. The thought of his 'snake' being charmed made him laugh, but the laugh was interrupted by the ring of his phone which scared the hell out of him.

"Unknown caller" and a number with a (360) area code appeared in the window of his iPhone. Growing up, the entire western half of the state had been area code (206) but that was now reserved for just the Seattle area and there were separate codes for Tacoma and Everett. This one was for everything else in western Washington so she clearly didn't live inside the city of Seattle. Then again, most people used the largest neighboring town when saying where they were from unless speaking to someone locally.

He felt really silly when he realized his heart was pounding as he slid the finger along the bottom to accept the call.

"Hello?" he said tentatively.

"Need some company there—Misery?" a playful female voice said.

"Randi? Hi. I...I didn't think you'd actually call," he said.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I guess I thought that meant you wanted me to. Wow. Don't I feel stupid! Please forgive me, David. I'll let you go," she said.

Very quickly he told her, "No. Not at all. I did want you to call. I just didn't think you really would. But I'm uh, I'm really glad you did."

"Are you sure? I mean, if you don't feel like talking to a total stranger at what...oh, wow, it's getting close to 1am so that means it's almost 2am there. Is this really okay?" she asked.

"It's very okay. I really can't get to sleep and if you're wide awake too, this is a little easier than trying to talk via message or email."

"I agree," she said. "You can be more precise in writing, IF you're a good writer. But for most of us, you can't really express what's on your mind unless you can talk. And...well, I love to talk. Or at least I used to."

"Hey, I get it. I had such a hard time talking after Ruby died. I had no interest in talking to anyone but Mac—my daughter—and even then it was really hard, you know?"

"Oh, trust me. I do know," she said. "I spent the first few months crying anytime Chloe wasn't looking then still didn't feel like talking for several more months after that. Even now, it's not exactly easy."

"It's so nice to talk to someone who 'gets it'," Eaton said quietly.

"And yet it's so sad to know why they get it," Randi replied.

"Well, now that we are talking, where should we start?" he asked.

Its as nearly 6am her time when Randi said, "David? I just heard Chloe wake up. She does sleep well, but sometimes she still wakes up very early."

"No. Of course. Please, go take care of her," he said supportively.

"I really, really enjoyed talking to you. Talk about serendipity, right?" she said.

"Yeah, that's a great word. Perfect in fact. I...I can't remember the last time I really enjoyed talking to someone this much, Randi."

He heard a little girl's voice say, "Who's on the phone, Mommy?"

"It's just one of Mommy's friends, honey," he heard Randi tell her.

"Can I talk?" she asked.

Eaton was trying to picture her standing there all bleary eyed and still wanting to talk on the phone.

"Oh, I'm not sure that's such a good idea, sweetie," she said.

"Can you put me on speaker?" Eaton asked.

"Oh. Um...sure. Hold on," Randi said.

He could hear the difference immediately then said, "Good morning, Miss Chloe."

"Who are you?" she asked sweetly.

"My name is David."

"Oh. Do you like my mommy?"

He heard Randi say, "No, honey. David is just a nice man Mommy likes talking to."

"Oh. Okay," she said. "Can I snuggle with you?"

"Um...sure. Come on up," Randi said, and just like that Chloe had nothing else to say.

"I should let you go," Eaton told her.

"And you need to get ready for work soon, right?" she asked.

"Um...well, in a couple more hours, yes," he told her.

"All right. It was really nice talking to you, David. I still can't believe we have so much in common."

"A fellow Objectivist. Who'd of thunk?" he said lightheartedly.

"We're definitely a minority, that's for sure," Randi told him.

"We are, but our numbers are growing," he said back.

"Not fast enough, but yes, we are making some progress, and I don't mean in the 'progressive' sense."

Eaton laughed again just as he'd done many times during their long, winding conversation that spanned a huge number of topics. Some were discussed in depth while others were given a cursory glance before moving on. But Randi was right in saying they had a lot of things in common. In fact, it was truly amazing and refreshing just how many times they agreed on something.

"No, we don't need that kind of progress," he said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'll let you go, Randi. I hope you get some sleep sometime soon."

"You, too, David. Just not when you're driving or working, okay?" she said obviously smiling.

"G'bye, David!" Chloe called out.

He smiled again then said, "Bye, Chloe. Have a nice day, okay?"

"You, too!" she said rather loudly.

"She always wants to put her mouth right next to the phone," Randi explained.

"Ah, okay," Eaton said with a polite laugh. "Again, this was a very pleasant conversation."

"Yes it was," she agreed. "I'd love to pick up where we left off whenever you get settled in after arriving."

"I'll look forward to it," he told her.

"Well, good...morning, David," she said very sweetly.

"Thank you, Randi. Good morning to you, too. Bye now."

It was 7:10am his time, and Eaton had no hope of even catching a nap so he got up, peed, then took a long, hot shower as he replayed their roughly five-hour conversation back in his head.

As he did, the coincidences kept piling up from both of them being widow and widower to their love of Ayn Rand and the Objectivist philosophy to their views on war, peace, intervention, religion, and even love and marriage.

At 28, a little older than he'd guessed, she was still 23 years younger than him, and as much as he enjoyed talking with her, his rational brain told him this could never be anything but a friendship, and that was fine, as it had been a very long time since he'd even made a new friend of any age—male or female. The fact that she made him feel young or at least young-er and that she talked to him like a friend was also very nice. But that's all it was was nice.

And yet, as he stood there in shower letting the warm water beat down on him, he had to ask why he was still 'hard' nearly six hours later? He hadn't experienced anything like that since he was eighteen walking around the mall with his first girlfriend. He'd had an erection for so long it physically hurt when he finally got home where he could um...relieve the pressure.

He hadn't done that but once since Ruby died, and when he realized he was on the verge of something close to a spontaneous eruption, it didn't take much in the way of his own gentle touch as he thought of Randi's latest pic on Facebook to cause an enormous explosion.

As Mount Vesuvius blew its top, he felt months of built-up pressure slowly drain away while knowing most of it was due to the time he'd spent on the phone with this intelligent, playful, and yes, beautiful, younger woman.

He stood there a few more minutes as what was left of the 'white lava' swirled down the drain before turning off the water and grabbing a towel. As he dried himself off, Eaton knew he was going to have a very hard time concentrating on anything the rest of the day, and not solely because of his lack of sleep.

The professor was indeed tired all day, but he was thankful to be so busy he had no time to think about anything else. He was able to take a two-hour nap when he got home after eating a dinner that lulled him to sleep within seconds of laying down.

When he woke up, the first thought he had was to check his email. It never occurred to him to look at his text messages again and when there was nothing from Randi on Facebook or Messenger, he felt a tremendous letdown. Only then did he pick up his phone, and when he did, it was to look at her number knowing he wouldn't dial it. He just needed to 'feel' some kind of connection with her.

And that's when he saw it. Or more accurately—them. There were two texts that had been sent while he was sleeping. Both were from Randi.

He smiled as he opened the first one.

"Hey, Professor! I tried not to bother you all day, but I had such a good time talking to you last night...no—this morning—that I just had to tell you I thought about our conversation all day. Well, when I wasn't so exhausted I couldn't think! Thank goodness I didn't have to do what you did and go to work. I'd have been a zombie. Chloe was particularly clingy today and she was happy to just lay beside me while I slept for a few hours. I hope your day wasn't awful because of me, btw.

So I just wanted to share that. I won't bother you anymore. I promise. Randi."

He was still smiling when he opened the next one.

"Okay, so I lied. Well, I didn't actually lie as I did intend not to bother you again. It's just that I wanted to say how refreshing it was to talk politics with someone and not feel like my blood pressure was going to go through the roof. I still can't believe how in synch we are on so many things!

Okay, I really, really promise not to bother you again. No, really! :-)"

This one was signed, "Love, Randi."

Eaton realized he was hard again and he was also torn between calling her immediately or just texting her back. Two seconds later, he was tapping out a reply.

"Hi, Randi. You have no idea how glad I was to see your texts! I was very tired all day, but you're the last person I'd blame for it. In fact, and please don't take this the wrong way, I felt like a kid in high school who'd had his first real talk on the phone with the girl he's been dying to go out with. I know that's silly, but it's true, so I'm just being honest. I guess when you're my age (I know. I know. You don't want me to keep bringing up my age. Sorry, but....) you still have it in your head that you could experience something like that again. Then you look in mirror and the truth slaps you back to reality!

At any rate, I had an incredibly enjoyable time talking with you. And yes, it's very nice to be able to share my views with someone who, well...shares them. My colleagues think I'm a self-centered, egocentric, hateful person who's only looking out for himself. They see Objectivism as the epitome of mean-spiritedness because they believe the government is the only entity large enough and 'fair' enough to be of any real help to the poor or to society in general. Obviously, I (and now I know you do, too) see things very differently.

At any rate, last night was by far the most enjoyable thing I've done since my wonderful wife passed away. I suppose I'm the one who should be apologizing for keeping you up as you have a beautiful little girl to care for. If I promise not to let it happen again, will you forgive me?"

He added a bunch of emojis then signed it, "Your friend. David."