I wait patiently by the phone like I do everyday when I get home from school. I wait like a child waits for her mother to get home from work. I wait by the phone until dinner and eat by the phone. No,I'm not waiting for a call from my husband or boyfriend, I'm only 16. I'm waiting for a phone call from my older cousin in Iraq telling me he is OK.

I sit by the phone, lost in thought, until the phone finally rings.

"Hello?" I say in the phone while I try to contain my excitement.

"Is this my little Carrot Top?" my cousin asks.

"Yes." I say with tears rolling down my cheeks.

"How are you Carrot Top?" he asks laughing through the phone.

"I'm good, how about you Little Ricky?" I ask whipping small tears on my coat sleeve.

"I'm good, I can't talk for long." he says quietly.

"That's OK, it's good to hear from you anyway." I says smiling.

"OK, so how you been?" Little Ricky asks.

"I'm good, I've been worried about you." I reply leaning on my knees.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine OK Carrot Top?" he says sincerely.

"OK." I says quietly.

"I've got to go, Carrot Top." he says.

"OK, I love you, Little Ricky." I says choking up over the phone.

"Love you too Carrot Top, and Carrot Top?" he says.

"Yeah?" I ask looking at the blank wall in the living room.

"Be good OK?" he says.

"OK, bye." I say smiling as tears roll down my face.

"Bye, Carrot Top." he says then the phone line goes dead.