telephones ring/and people don't answer them/sometimes/and then sometimes/people do answer the phones/and on the other end are people they don't want to talk to/and so/the people/who answer the phones get sad/however, very often/the people on the other end of the phone/are people whom the people who answer the phones want to talk to/and this/is where/our story begins/one drunk, one payphone/two rings and she answers/hello? it's you? i haven't heard from you in years/she'll hang up he thinks/she'll hang up he fears/you're drunk aren't you?/you've had too many beers/oh just one/just one/well...two/where are you?she asks/i'll come pick you up/oh i don't know, some diner/it's cool i've got my truck/she hung up, told him to wait/it's just her luck/after all these years why'd he have to call now?/she's married, this sucks/here you are she says/i've come to pick you up/she takes one good look/one look...two looks/she can read him just like he is a book/you're pale, she says/what's wrong, he shook/he shudders, like death itself is how he looked/i'm dead...i'm dead...too dead/you're silly you're alive, you're here with me/you don't understand, his face streaked with tears/why can't you see?/for as long as i can remember/i've been as dead as can be/i didn't get it either/until i met a man who made me free/with these words/met a man who made me free/with these words/there's a light at the end of the tunnel/there's a light at the end of the tunnel/and that light is generated by a fire/that i'm gonna fall into and burn for eternity/and then/he was no longer breathing/there at her feet