"Uh-huh . . . Yeah, I've been staying over at Ben's place . . . Seriously? . . . Oh, that's great! . . . Yeah, you too, Grampa. Okay, bye."
Ben didn't bother eavesdropping on Kai's phone call, despite the fact that she was standing just outside of his room and thus could be heard more than clearly.
Now he had a creative burst and he spent what must have been several hours being so engulfed in getting it into the story.
The young woman then walked into Ben's room, and leaned her svelte self against the wall across from his bed.
"What happened?"
He couldn't be bothered to look up from his laptop just then.
"I have good news and great news! Which do you want first?"
"How about the great news?"
"Remember that dealer I mentioned? The cops caught him, and they traced him to that cowpie running for president."
Ben thought to himself, "Sounds like something I'd put in a story."
"The good news is, now that they caught the guy, all that rioting business simmered down, and the next flight back to New Mexico is in 3 days."
"By 'the next flight back,' you mean the one you're taking?"
She nodded.
"Oh, what a shame. This story's just starting to get somewhere in between crazy and good."
"You need me that badly, huh?"
He shrugged, "Just enough to keep my hands busy."
Kai was agitated by that response, and started glaring at him with her arms crossed in front of her.
"'Just enough'?"
It took Ben a second to realize what he said before he put his laptop aside and looked up at her.
"I'm sorry, Indy. That's not what I meant. Please don't take it the wrong way."
"I'm not angry," she responded, "just a little agitated. But I get it: you misspoke. I'm not gonna give you hell for that. I will give you hell, however, if you're not gonna at least try to learn from that mistake."
"Yeah, of course."
"Good."
The young woman turned to leave, but stopped suddenly as she thought of something and turned back to Ben.
"Hey, Ben."
"Yes, Jerry?"
"No hard feelings, OK?"
"No, ma'am."
"Alright, 'cause as a token of good will, I have something I'd like to show you."
"Do you?"
Letting curiosity get the better of him, he obliged her and followed her out of the room.