"Hello," he said to me, in a way that suggested that he didn't want to talk to me.

"Hi there," I replied, in a way that asked why he didn't want to talk to me.

"How are you?" he asked, but by the sound of it I could tell that it was nothing personal, he was just in a cranky mood.

"I'm fine!" I answered, in such a way that also asked why he was cranky.

"Lovely weather we're having," he said, and by the tone of voice I could tell he was having back pain lately, that had been interfering with his sleep.

"Oh, yes. Some clouds last weekend, but now it's just delightful," I said, and by the tone of my voice I think he could tell that I was recommending my chiropractor, and that her number was (650) 917-2030 and he should totally call her.

"Well, good talking with you," he said, and the tone of his voice said that he wasn't sure about chiropractic, but if I really thought it would help, he would give it a try, because after all a few months back he had been having all those furniture problems and he doubted my advice then but it turns out I was totally right, so he might as well give it a shot.

"You too!" I said, inflected in just such a way as to suggest that hey, by the way, speaking of furniture, there was this crazy display of circus-style furniture happening in LA later on this summer, and if he were free, it could be fun to make it into a road trip or something, but hey, no pressure or anything.

Then we both hung up the phone at the same time, and that didn't have any subtext at all.