Francine got up and answered it and brought the phone to Tony in bed. It was Francine’s phone. Tony answered. It was Joanna long distance from Frisco. “Listen,” he said, “I told you never to phone me here.” Joanna had been drinking. “You just shut up and listen to me. You owe me something, Tony.” Tony exhaled slowly, “O.K., go ahead.” “How’s Francine?” “Nice of you to ask. She’s fine. We’re both fine. We were asleep.” “Well, anyhow, I got hungry and went for pizza, I went to a pizza parlor.” “Yeh?” “You’ve got something against pizza?” “Pizza is garbage.” “Ah, you don’t know what’s good. Anyhow, I sat down in the pizza parlor and ordered special pizza. ‘Give me the very best,’ I told them. I sat there and they brought it and said $18. I said I couldn’t pay $18. They laughed and went away and I began to eat the pizza.” “How are your sisters?” “I don’t live with either of them anymore. They both ran me out. It was those long-distance phone calls to you.
