The Bringing Phone

Bring! Bring! Bring!

The phone rings brings three times before the answer machine kicks in and asks the caller to leave a message. I am halfway down the stairs listening for that essential message, but instead, the tone clicks; the person hangs up. I take the receiver in my hand and press 1,4,7,1 only to find the number as unknown. I hate not knowing who the caller is, but there again; I don’t like to talk to strangers. So now I relax upstairs where I keep busy sorting rooms out because they’re full of junk.

“How are you Maggie?” Says the text message Pat has sent me in light of my frustration of discovering that I’m such a disorganized wreck. Not knowing how to respond, I ignore the message.  Texting is hard, especially when keying in the specific letters with an older phone.  Fortunately for Pat he spent good money on a new up-to-date mobile, so when messaging, he has no problem.

Minutes later I receive another phone call, bring! Bring! Bring! Goes the phone again and again the machine picks up the message. Again there isn’t a message and again I am frustrated.

  “Is it that hard to leave a simple message when a person is simply too busy to answer and take the call!”I shout aloud, but no one is there. The room is silent, but it doesn’t feel silent. No, not with the voices constantly in my head suggesting that next time I should answer it. But no, of course, it’s in my nature to worry.  That’s what I do worry.  The nerves in my body are causing me to walk round the room aimlessly, wondering what and who it could’ve been.

Buzzzz goes the small phone on the table by the bed.  It is vibrating with another message that reads,“are you okay, Maggie.”

With the phone close to my face, I type in the letters, “no, some unknown person keeps calling me, although I’m desperate to know every time they ring, I won’t answer it because they’re supposed to leave a message.”Then I go to press the send button and oh, no, I press the wrong one and my message has disappeared without a trace. I have no idea how to get it back to I throw the down with a thump onto the carpet in another frustrated attempt.

Then all of sudden I have a great idea. It will solve all my troubles. And so with huge delight, I unplug the telephone line and skip merrily up the stairs knowing the phone will never bring, bring, bring or ring again.  My problem is now solved.