Saved World: IVth Part: Making The Call
Y'know how when you find free money on the ground it just puts you in a good mood? For me, it doesn't. I'm a little concerned about the person that lost the money. I mean, sure, they were careless its their own fault... but what if? What if this belonged to a small child, 8 years old, not too small and they're even big for their age but they're still a small person and maybe because they're big for their age some other kids in their class feel threatened and even though this big kid is a gentle giant, a John Ridd, these other kids gang up on this one kid and when the big kid is running home they dropped their loonie; the money they were taking to the corner store to buy some candy. And even though its a big kid its not an obese child, so its not like the run home and the loss of candy money was doing this kid any favours. And maybe it wasn't candy money at all! It was money for a stamp, a single stamp their ailing grandmother (who is raising this orphaned child on the pension left by the grandfather who was killed by a health condition he aquired while earning that very same pension) sent the child out for a stamp so the grandmother could mail a letter - a medical form to the insurance company for reimbursement of bills already paid - and lo if that letter never gets mailed! Eviction starvation destitution all hinge on this loonie, but I should pick it up before someone else does. Those bully kids will probably end up coming back for it anyway. I'll use this money for great good, to save everyone and in turn save that grandmother and her abnormally tall grandchild which all the money and goodwill on Earth could not do without this impending phone call. Or someone else will get spam emails requesting their assistance to save the world... maybe there'll be a lineup at the phone. Even if we save the lives of grandma and company they're still doomed to eviction destitution starvation. Sorry grandma, I got a call to make. I actually didn't make the call until the next day, I was still mulling over the pros and cons of this odd task/almost quest, there was also the detail of figuring out what time of day would be best to go to a pub to make a strange phone call; I decided on after lunch because I'll have eaten and the pub would probably not be too crowded. Assuming the pub was open at all, I was guessing they served lunch and would be open from then until the end of the day, but it was a weekday so maybe they only open in the evening, but if I'm there in late afternoon I could find a way to occupy a couple of hours until they opened presumably for the afterwork crowd. I wasn't overly concerned with my appearance on the best of days, and I was only making a phonecall, but my presence at a pub did leave the opening for the possibility of attractive females so I wore my vest, nor a 3-piece suit formal vest, the vest I wear over my hoodie, it has a lot of pockets and it zips up to just under my chin. On the whole I don't find vests easy to wear because they don't warm the arms and my arms would get colder than my torso and thus I'm needlessly layering my torso but it wasn't too cold out and I figured my sweater had it covered. I had changed the loonie into four quarters at my place of residence and carried a quarter in each pocket of my pants so they wouldn't jangle together while I walked. I decided on bringing two sets of 50 cents just in case something went awry with the first phonecall and I needed to make a second call. Additionally, that potentially condemned child/grandmother were footing the bill anyway. I arrive at the pub at around 3:55pm and as I enter the dimly lit building (there are large front windows but the day is grey) I notice there is no one around. No one sitting at any of the tables or at any of the booths, which isn't totally strange because I can't think of a particularly good reason to be here at 4pm on a weekday but it is strange that there is no one behind the bar, or walking around doing whatever a waitress would do if there would even be a waitress at this time - probably not, I guess. Then I realize there are no cars in the parking lot out front, but employees might park around the back. Maybe they are all hanging out of sight in the kitchen, did the door ring a bell when I entered? I can't remember. I'm usually an observant person, I pride myself on it, I dream of being a spy in a movie where they know what everyone in the room is wearing and watch all the exits off the reflections of their silverware, I don't mean that I'm like that I'd just like to be like that, that would be the ultimate, I'm more of a, "You forgot to lock the car" as we're walking away from the car you forgot to lock kind of observant, I notice some useful things. Maybe I've been so fixated on this call that I gave myself tunnel vision, or maybe I'm not as observant as I think I am. I try to get my head screwed on straight because I start to get the feeling I"m about to get jumped for $1 in change but I don't hear anyone sneaking up on me and I take a look around and confirm there is still no one. I realize that the sun is going to set in about an hour and it will get colder and it was already kind of cold to walk here so I should probably jog home to help stay warm but I should make this call first. I've been looking around for the payphone but I haven't seen it, I get the sudden feeling that this is a trap there was never a phone I try to remember if I brought the number I'm supposed to call yes its in the right breast pocket of the vest and if this is a trap its probably best if I don't let on that I know its a trap so I maintain a cool demeanor. I consider calling out to see if anyone is there, but its also kind of fun to just stand in the middle of an empty room, unless someone I didn't see is watching me and they're wondering what is the matter with me, just standing here looking around. I could go try to find the kitchen, or bang around and make some noise or try to find the washroom just as an excuse for being here. I decide maybe I'll just abort this mission, I could always come back another time, while I'm wearing a jacket, when maybe there will be some cute professional girls my age getting a drink waiting for a mysterious stranger to talk to them. I turn to leave and as I'm reaching the door, still waiting for a sneak attack, I notice the payphone. The payphone, is, of course, located near the exit, was it going to be located in a corner? Maybe, I've seen it on TV. I reflexively lift the phone's receiver and replace it, this is a habit of mine because after a second the display will read out the time: it's 3:47. So maybe it wasn't 3:55 when I walked in, I was just guessing, or maybe I've started going backwards through time, unlikely, or maybe the clock is wrong, although I personally believe payphones across the continent to be on the same clock, I have no idea if this is true. I guess I walked here faster than I thought. I retrieve the phone number from my pocket and fish out 2 of the quarters, the one's from my back pockets. I dial the number and I hang up. I try to collect myself and really focus on this call. I have NO IDEA who is going to pick up the other end of this phone, if they pick up at all, that would be anticlimactic. Maybe it is good that the pub is empty because I start psyching myself up to be ready to yell into the phone. I get my blood flowing, I jump up and down and shake my head around like a boxer before a fight. This could be a confrontation, this could be a chance to tell the person sending me spam/hacking my computer (not 100% they're related, but 83% sure). The person on the other end of this line might not even speak english, judging from the composition of their text so far they might be hard to understand and not understand me, then why am I here? To find out. Okay, let's do this. I feel like barking, or maybe howling, depending on how this goes I will howl outside afterwards, especially if I get thrown out for making too much of a fracas with the phone. Ideally, there will be no police involved, ugh I dislike the police and their guns and their bulletproof vests and me with nothing to defend myself and the assumption I'll submit and my only recourse to complain later to the very system that can treat me however they like. I'm not sure if this train of thought is calming me making me less likely to act out or boiling my blood further. I dial the number, I drop in 50 cents, I'm snarling quietly privately but I also don't want to start with agression I just want to be sharp, razor sharp or diamond sharp? Or do diamonds cut because they're the hardest? Be both, be ready. The line is ringing. One ring, two rings. Pick up, if I get an answering machine I'm going to lose my 50 cents. My clenching the receiver pretty hard and I'm holding it right up against my ear and cheek not even considering that might be unsanitary and I'm not sure why my face is getting so hot, I must be pressing the phone really hard against myself but then it starts to hurt and I'm not even trying to recoil, I'm just stunned by the heat on my face and I'm being pulled, my face is being pulled against the phone. I'm not sure if the searing was in my ear too, but my cheek was being pulled into the phone. I don't even know what it felt like, It just hurt a lot but I couldn't even make a sound, I think my head went first followed by my body, or maybe it was all at once, in an instant, in a flash it was over.