Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: PHONE (11/10/16)
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TITLE: Calling Long Distance | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Dick
11/17/16 -
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“Mama… you awake?” he whispered.
A faint moan floated in the stillness of the room.
He quietly backed away from the door and turned. His bare feet padded past the television and into the kitchen. The step stool was heavy, but he grabbed a leg in each of his small hands and pulled. He dragged it from its place by the counter, to the wall underneath the phone.
He held onto the back of the stool as he climbed the two steps and reached for the black receiver. The shock of the loud dial tone in his ear made him jump. What does mama do? Jimmy’s small index finger searched the dial and then pushed it clockwise all the way around. He firmly held onto the heavy receiver with both hands.
“Hello, Operator.”
His eyes widened. “Uh…h-hi!” Jimmy stuttered.
“May I help you?” asked the woman’s voice.
“My mama’s sick,” Jimmy said loudly into the receiver.
“Is this an emergency? Do you need an ambulance?”
“I don’t know…no.”
A buzz sounded in his ear. Jimmy studied the receiver in his hands. He shoved it back onto the phone hook. After he stared at the phone for a few seconds, he picked it up again. He held it on his left shoulder, while he inserted his finger in the dial, and pushed it all the way around.
“Hello, Operator.”
“Hi, this is Jimmy.”
A pause. “Is your parent there?”
Jimmy was quiet for a moment. “Mama is, but she’s asleep.”
“Is this an emergency?” asked the monotone voice.
“She’s sick,” Jimmy answered with a choke in his voice.
“Little boys should not play with phones.” The buzz was loud as the line was disconnected.
Jimmy replaced the receiver on the phone hook and climbed down the two stairs off of the stool. A tear rolled down his plump cheek as he gazed back at the phone.
He backed away and turned to see Bugs Bunny on the television taking a bite of carrot. Jimmy’s tummy growled. He ambled into the kitchen, opened a cupboard and pulled out the Captain Crunch cereal. The box slipped out of his hands, fell onto the linoleum floor, and spilled everywhere. Jimmy plopped down on his bottom in the midst of the mess, and shoved fists of the sugary cereal into his mouth, as tears rolled down his face.
Another moan sounded from the bedroom which caused him to stop munching. With much effort, he pushed himself up, shuffled through the crumbs, and climbed up the stool.
He lifted the receiver and pushed the dial around.
“Operator,” said the familiar nasal voice.
“This is Jimmy.”
“Jimmy again.”
He sniffled into the phone.
“What do you need?” asked the voice.
“I need to talk to God,” he cried.
Silence.
“Mama said she wished she could call God.”
“Jimmy, you can’t talk to God on the phone,” answered the voice with a sigh.
“Why?”
A hesitation and then, “you just can’t.”
With tear filled eyes Jimmy peered at the open door of his mother’s room.
“Then can I talk to Jesus?” he asked as a sob escaped.
There was only silence on the other end.
He waited.
“Jimmy, I was thinking,” the operator said quietly. “Why don’t you tell me what you want him to know.”
“Okay,” Jimmy said with a whimper. “Could you tell him my mama needs him to make her better?”
“Oh…I see. You don’t need to call back Jimmy. Good-bye.”
He dropped the phone receiver and left it dangling as he scurried down the two steps. While he rushed toward the bedroom, he heard a short telephone ring. He stopped and looked back at the receiver swinging on its spiral cord in the kitchen.
He bit the inside of his lip and turned toward his mother’s door.
A loud creak sounded from the bedroom. After several moments, the door opened wide and his mother appeared. Her hair was in disarray as she stood in her loose robe hanging from her slender shoulders. With wide eyes she stared at Jimmy.
“Mama?”
“I just answered the phone.”
Jimmy watched his mama.
“He said he was God.”
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