Wrong Number

By

Alan L. Bryant

     It was the first time Jack was away from home.  He had graduated from high school at 17 years of age and was off to college.  Not knowing anyone there, he was assigned a dorm room and given a meal card for the cafeteria.  While eating a hamburger in the cafeteria, Jack starred at the other students as they passed through the lunch line.  Many people walked by, but nobody came and sat down next to him, or talked with him.  He was the only one at the table. 

     Jack’s roommate was an affable young man with a pleasant disposition, however he did have a girlfriend; therefore Jack didn’t see much of the guy because he naturally spent most of his spare time with his lady friend, coming in late at night and always leaving early in the morning. 

     Nobody was very friendly around there, and Jack wasted most of the days studying by himself in his room.  After only a few weeks of self-imposed isolation, Jack inevitably began to suffer from depression.  He yearned to be back home with his mom, dad, brothers and sisters.  This cloistered existence he had chosen for himself, and nothing seemed to be real anymore.  Though he studied, his heart wasn’t in it, and his grades reflected his disappointment with school. 

     One night, during the latter part of the semester, around 8:00 o’clock in the evening, the phone in his dorm room rang.  He thought; “Who could it be?  Nobody ever calls here.”  On the fourth ring he answered hesitantly by saying “Hello?”  The voice on the other end was of a young female.  The tone of her soft voice made him imagine her to be beautiful.  “I want one large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and a 2 liter bottle of Mellow Yellow,” she said.  Jack laughed and explained that he wasn’t the pizza man, and she must have a wrong number.  Instead of hanging up, she asked him what kind of pizza he liked.  “I like Italian sausage loaded down with plenty of cheese, and a few jalapeños on the side,” he said as he licked his lips.