Sitting with my dad. He sits in his 30 year old recliner. I'm on the couch. We don't converse (nearly impossible these days). Silence between us. Minutes pass.
Dad reaches for the special TV remote. It only has 5 buttons. Channel up, channel down, volume up, volume down, power. He can't even use that. Not anymore.
Suddenly he picks it up. "Hello?" He says into it. "It's for you!" He hands me the large-buttoned television remote. I talk into it. "It was just a salesman," I say. I give it back to him. He sets it down.
We sit in silence again.