“Happy New Year,” Viola says from the other end of the phone line. “I thought about calling you at midnight, but I figured you’d be asleep.”
“Midnight my time, or yours?” I ask. Viola is in San Francisco, on the other side of the country from me.
“Oh, mine, definitely.”
“Yeah, my ringer is definitely off at three in the morning.”
“I figured,” she says. “Thought that as long as I got you on the first day of the year, that was an acceptable alternative.”
“Well, I appreciate the call either way,” I say.
“It’s the least I could do, since I didn’t come out with the three amigos to visit in person. Have a little too much going on out here right now to break away.”
Somewhere in the depths of my house, I can hear Rivi shrieking about something, like a five year old full of too much Halloween candy. I grab my jacket by the back door, slip it on, and step out onto the side porch to escape the noise.
“Was that Rivi?” Viola asks.
“You could hear her? She’s like a force of nature. She and Boone were playing a board game, so she’s either winning or losing, I have no idea. The noise result is the same.”
“It’s my first New Year’s without her in a while. You guys missed last year, now Rivi and Boone and Tina. All my best people are out of town, Sebastian.”
“Well, you could have been part of the surprise visit here, too. What are you busy with that’s so important?”
“I’ll tell you when it’s over,” she says. “Got a lot of irons in the fire.”
“Must be important, if you’re using a cliché like that.”
“I don’t want to jinx anything. Consider me superstitious.”
“Hope you aren’t calling me from under a ladder or anything,” I say.
“Next to a broken mirror. While a black cat is lighting three cigarettes with one match.”
“You’re a mystery, Viola.”
“Wrapped in an enigma. Also bacon.”
“I do love bacon.”
“I know,” she says. “Happy New Year, Sebastian.”
“Happy New Year, Viola.”
“I’m running,” she says. “Tell Rivi to answer her phone, will you? She’s irritating.”
“I can do that,” I say. “As soon as she stops screaming so she can hear me.”
“Miss you guys. Talk later.” She disconnects the call.
From inside the house, I can hear Rivi continuing to either win or lose her game. Out here on the porch, it’s cold but peaceful, and so I choose to sit for a while and enjoy the first day of the new year. Later, we will all have some of Hunter’s special black-eyed peas and ham, and enjoy our being together.
There are worse ways than this to start a new year.