[color=royal blue]?Listen....I really just wanted to hear your voice...and...and so I call a machine and get me own voice. Em....? For a few seconds he just breathed into the phone. ?I miss you, you know.? He lay down on the bed on his side and kept talking. ?I wanted to see Nono Mephis with her new haircut....and....I just miss the kids, you know? Each time I come back home, it?s like they?re older....and you keep getting better. You know that, Vegas? I mean it. I mean, who?s to stop you from seeing someone else?? He sighed and rolled onto his back.
?Say I'm a fool...? he sang softly. ?You say I'm nothing, but if I'm a fool for you....Oh, that's something....I don?t remember the rest right now. Em....Jesus....You know, I have that picture of us from when we were kids in high school. The one that Mr. Conner took? Damn fine fellow.... I?ve always kept it on me, you know. Not in my wallet. Damned if I could ever keep track of a wallet. This, I keep, though. This...I remember he said we?d end up married, Conner said. And it was like....a bad thing to be. At the time. I mean, married. And....? He paused and licked his lips. He suddenly felt very awkward to be talking to a sleeping house. he sounded stupid in general.
?Well, but that?s the past, though, isn?t it? You cannot conquer Time...Auden and all that...? He sighed. ?Vegas, I?ve been thinking about you, is what I?ve been trying to say. Em....and I want to hear your voice....and I want to know if you?ve missed me. Because....I?ve missed you....and I want to sit with you on the bed....and I want to see our kids tucked in at night....and I want to go in and listen to them breathing. I want to lay down next to you and know that....that if I cry or laugh....love or hate....that when I wake up, you?ll still be there; and you?ll make me better.? He seemed startled by the sound of his own voice suddenly, and paused.
Everything he had just said sounded so fake, so formulated; like ?this is how it works.? He didn?t know how it all worked. He didn?t. Not really.
Bono listened to the silence of the room, and remembered a different silence of his own home at night. One time he woke Vegas up in the middle of the night, long after the kids had fallen asleep. And they sat outside holding hands. Bono never said a word, just rested his head on Vegas?s shoulder.
He lifted the receiver back up to his mouth. ?Vegas -- do you remember when we went outside in August? At night, I mean. And you held my hand. Or I held yours, maybe. I don?t remember. I want to do that again. When I come home. If I come crawling home, will you....be there... I would wait for you, Vegas. Em....I?ve been trying to write something for you. Some....some new words....but it doesn?t feel like they mean as much as they used to....not to me....Just....just tell me what will make everything better. You -- you?re perfect, love. Heavy and light....everything and nothing....but I want to be better for you. I love you, you know. That -- that?s really all of it -- That I wanted to say. Um...? And he hung up.