smoke before he went over. He lit and thought more about that tree.

He opened his phone and searched the calls received, found the one he wanted and pressed return call. There was a moment of silence and he wondered if it had connected at all, until he finally heard the ring, three times and then…

“Hello?”

“Billy?”

“Ian?”

“I’m sorry is too early? I can call back later.”

“No, no man, 9 am I was already up.”

“I didn’t disturb Renee, did I?”

There was a long pause. “No. No you didn’t. So how have you been?”

“Just fine and you?”

“Oh…I’m okay” He sighed.

“Billy, are you alright?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Billy, this is going to sound strange, but did I ever mention to you about putting something in an old tree in my yard?”

“Not to my knowledge. Why?’

“I just got a call from my old boss at CYB, and he said that the Osborne’s found some stuff in on old tree that fell down or something and thought I’d want it.”

“Hmmm, must be some stuff, to drive and hour and a half to get it to you.”

“I remember there was an old oak in the back field that I used to climb, I think I even tried to build a tree house in it once, but I don’t remember putting any thing in it.”

“Was it hollow?”

“Not to my knowledge, but sturdy enough for a kid to climb in”

“Yeah, well, Mr. Hunter gonna send it to you?”

“I’ll call and arrange a messenger to pick it up tomorrow.”

“A messenger?” Billy whistled. “Fan…cee”

“Stop. Look sorry to bother you, but I should go. I’ll call again soon when I have a chance to talk.”

“Sure.”

“Give my love to Renee.”

There was another long silence.

“Billy? I said give my love to Renee…”

The silence continued. Ian checked to make sure the little bar showed an active connection. “Billy…?”

“She left me, Ian…Renee left me….”

“Oh, man…why didn’t you say something?”

“Don’t know. It seems strange. We’ve always been there for each other, and now all of a sudden you aren’t here any more.”

“You gonna be okay?”

“Sure. No one to get drunk with though….”

Ian thought of the night that he had left Clair. He flashed to last night with Kellen. He thought of how bad he felt because his oldest friend was in pain and he was thinking about penises and ejaculations.

“Billy, buddy, I wish I could come back there, but I’ve just gotten things going at work.”

“Yeah, I understand. I’ll be fine. Call when you have a chance to talk.”

“Wait, Billy, can you take some time off of work?”

“I guess, why?”

“Look, I’m going to make a plane reservation for you with no date on it. You see when you can take some time off and come out here. Stay as long as you like, I’ve got plenty of room.”

There was another pause. “You mean it?”

“Hell, yeah. Just call me and let me know when to pick you up.”

“Okay. You want I should go to