I

"Hello...? Hey... Yeah, not too bad, yourself? No, no... Uh, I'm actually just getting ready to go to work... Yeah... 5 o'clock... No I've got the car... Yeah, no doubt... No doubt I will... Ok, yeah... alright, catch you later..."
He dropped the phone into the cradle and doubled over in pain, dropping to the carpeted floor midway up the stairs... Gasping, he cradled his knees into his chest and moaned.

II

He removed the bag from the Scrabble box and rummaged his nimble fingers around amongst the small plastic tiles. He removed three and arranged them on the table:

A I A

Arrested informal alien

then five:

O A T S W

Orange ache tests sweet wolf

then four:

S T N B

Spectral tape needs burning