The Phone Calls

The Phone Calls

Janet Moxie picked up the ringing phone, out of breath from running upstairs from the basement.

“Hello?”

“This is your last warning.”

Janet stared at the receiver as if it were alive. She shrugged and hung up.

For the next month, she continued to receive a call a night with the same message.

“I tell you, sis I’m terrified. The voice is threatening and does not wait for a reply,” she told her oldest sibling.

“Is it a voice you recognize? Could it be one of your smart aleck friends playing some kind of joke or a kid?”

“No, it’s not a voice I know.”

“Call the cops!”

“And tell them what?” Janet replied.

“Get the calls on record at least. Maybe you should change your phone number to unlisted or...”

“Forget it,” she interrupted her sister before she could finish the conversation with what Janet knew she was going to say.

The next time she picked up the phone, Janet was ready.

“Look whoever you are, stop threatening me! The police know about you and my line is tapped.

The message she’d been hearing in every call came on again and as usual, right after, the line went dead.

Finally, at the end of the month, the message changed.

“You know you need and want a cellphone. Get with the times! Cellphones R Us is having a fifty percent off sale next month. Ask for Ciril Nyman. I’ve been authorized to sweeten the deal with a year cell service for free.”

Janet slammed down the receiver hard.

“Can a cell phone do that? No! That’s why I don’t want one,” she muttered loudly.

When the phone rang again, she removed the receiver from the base and rested it on the counter, face down and walked away.