"You're all so crabby," Dan announced earlier this week.  It's true: school is winding down, and it's time for summer.  In the meantime, it's time for a little #NovelSnip, a tiny portion of my fiction writing project.  I have to get serious pretty soon about making some more progress.  Until then, here's this:

Later that evening, the phone rang.  Susan answered it.  “May I ask who’s calling?”  Norah heard her say, from where she was working a jigsaw puzzle with Maggie on the metallic coffee table.  “Just a moment,” Susan said, her voice low.  She peered around the wall.  “It’s for you,” she said to Norah, a trace of a smile flitting in her right cheek.  Norah raised her eyebrows.  

“Who is it?” she asked, not daring to hope.

“Someone named Peter,” Susan said meaningfully.  “From Appleton.”

Norah couldn’t help herself.  She grinned.  “Hang on, Maggie,” she said, pushing herself to standing.  She brushed past Susan and into the kitchen, feverishly picking up the handset.  “Peter?” she said, the excitement plain in her voice.  “Hang on,” she continued.  “I’m going to run upstairs.”  She put the phone down and spun to face Susan.  “Hang this up for me in a minute, Mom?” she asked.  

“Sure,” Susan said, and she would, after surreptitiously listening to the first few seconds of their fluttery call, thrill trailing from both of their voices.

Done.  Phew.