Last night I dreamed the phone lines went down

Last night I dreamed every call that came in was silent on the other end, but I knew exactly who was calling anyway. I could hear their breathing in the pause — the old man on Cedar Street, the woman whose son calls every Sunday, the kid who dials by accident and laughs. I'm just sitting there saying their names into the dark, and somehow that's enough. Nobody hangs up. Nobody panics. I wake up and realise I've never once thanked the quiet ones for just being on the other end.