Dial M for Random

Ring-ring!  Ring-Ring!

“Good morning, this is Pearl.”

“Who is this?  Where are you?”

I blink at my phone. 

It doesn’t help, but it doesn’t hurt.

“This is Pearl,” I say.  “And where are you?”

“Well I’m – I’m Barbara,” she says crossly.  “And I’m not going to tell you where I am.”

I blink again.  There is a short silence before Barbara continues. 

“Why did you call me?”

I sigh, quietly.  Perhaps this is a test of some kind…

“I believe you called me,” I say.

“Not now,” she snaps.  “This morning.”

Barbara appears to be a bit peevish.

A light bulb goes off.  “Oh,” I say.  “I think I know what you’re talking about.  Is your number similar to –“  and here I rattle off the number I had mis-dialed earlier in the morning.

There is a silence, long enough that I begin to worry about ol’ Babs.

“Barbara?”

“Yes,” she cranks.  “Yes, it is, and you called me at 7:04.  Who calls anyone at 7:04?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I say.  “I start work at 7:00.  I’m sorry if I woke you.”

She sniffs.  “I was up at 5:00.”  I am certain that this woman is frowning.  “I saw that you called but I was out in my garden, and then you didn’t leave a number, and I’ve been worried about it all day!”

“Oh,” I say. 

There is another silence.

“It’s so nice in the morning,” she says.

I close my eyes, then shrug.  Why not.  “Yes,” I say, “but I rarely get a chance to be out in it.”

Barbara cannot contain herself.  “What?!” she says.  “Well, you should!  You should get out.  Today is going to be nice at 4:00!”

This Barbara!  She’s a bit crabby, but she seems okay.  I laugh.  “Why at 4:00?  I don’t get off until –“

And just like that, there is a click and I am listening to the dial tone.

Barbara has hung up on me.

It haunts me, that conversation.

What made her think it was going to be nice at 4:00?