The call has a shape they have learned to keep
Your mother asks about your weather first. Not because she is curious about the weather, she has never once cared about the weather, but because it is neutral ground, and neutral ground is safe. Your father waits on the other end of the line, ready to confirm whatever she says. They have rehearsed this, not deliberately, but through repetition. The call has a shape now. It lasts twenty-two minutes. It ends with "eat properly" and "sleep on time" and then a silence that means goodbye without either of you saying it.
