Last nite I walked out and locked the door behind me. And then
the phone rang. It could have rung 3 seconds earlier,
but no. It chose to ring now. Just after I locked the
door. Well, too bad, I thought. Too bad for whoever's
calling. I'm not at home. If it's important, they'll
call again on my cell phone.

Yet I couldn't turn and go. I mean, the phone was
ringing. It didn't feel right to leave it. I could
hear it on the other side of the door, and I couldn't
bring myself to ignore it. I don't know why. When was
the last time someone called who i actually wanted to
talk to? It was probably someone trying to sell me
something. Salespeople are the only creatures useless
enough to let the phone ring for so long. Everyone
else gives up after about 4 rings.

Oh, what the hell. I pulled out the keys and unlocked
the door. It took me a bit, because i accidentally
started trying the wrong key. But whoever it was
seemed pretty determined because the phone kept
ringing the whole while. Actually, cancel that
thought. Whoever it is seemed pretty stupid. They had
no reason to think anyone was at home if no one was
answering after such a long time. And i felt stupid
too. Why was i going to the trouble of actually
conversing with this stupid person. Though the chances
of my making it in time seemed excessively small.
Whoever it is would probably be keeping it down the
very second i picked the phone up, i thought, being
ever the optimist.

Yet i still ran to the phone as soon as i got the door
open.

"Hello?"

"Oh! Uh... hello." The voice at the other end sounded
surprised. Probably hadn't really thought anyone was
home after all, and was surprised someone actually
answered.

"Yes?" I said, somewhat impatiently.

"Um... do u know who this is?"

I couldn't have recognized the voice. I'm not good at
recognizing voices. So i really have no idea how i
knew who it was. And yet, i knew. And i was suddenly
at a complete loss for words.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes," I said. "Yes... yes, i am... um.... oh God!"

The voice at the other end laughed. "Well, um,
surprise!"