Part 6
Darkness reigned outside unbroken yet by the approaching daylight. The Jones family house sat still in the silence of the waning night. However, those in it were sleeping fitfully. The phone rang loudly next to Jenn’s head interrupting her restless sleep. Her right hand had fallen asleep, so she groggily reached for the phone with her left hand. Her fingers reached the heavy base of the phone on her night stand and felt without looking for the receiver. Rolling to her back, she put it up to her ear, her eyes still shut. “Hello?”
A distant voice said, “Hello.”
“This is Jenn, who is calling?” she mumbled on cue thanks to the phone etiquette her mother had ingrained in her as a child. The training took control in her sleep-deprived state.
“Mom, come home,” said the still distant voice. She opened her eyes with a gasp. She saw that she was speaking into the wrong end of the phone. She clumsily turned the phone over with her left hand, the coiling cord tangling and twining in her hair. “Hello?” she repeated, but her only answer was a dial tone.
“Jeff, I think something is wrong with one of the kids!” Jenn urged. Whether it was because Jeff had already also been awakened by the phone call or because of the edge in Jenn’s voice, he was out of bed in the ready stance before she even finished her first sentence.
“I think one of the kids was calling me on the phone! Please go check on them!” But he was already in the hallway.
Now fully awake, she sat up trying to think. Was that all part of my dream? It seemed like she had been dreaming about the kids needing her or calling for her. But she was actually holding the receiver and she really thought that she had heard the phone ring. As she detangled herself from the phone cord she thought, Maybe I accidentally bumped the plunger and hung the phone up as I was picking it up off the base. Then maybe I dreamed the rest?
She had just set the receiver back on its base when the phone loudly rang in the silence of the morning. Startled, she snatched the phone up. “Hello?!”
“Jenn?” said a man. His voice carried worry.
“Dad?” Jenn said in surprise. Her father was not someone who generally called just to chat on the phone.
“Jenn, uh, I was just calling to see how you were doing?” Her dad replied sounding less worried.
Wondering what prompted this concern so early in the morning she asked, “I’m fine, Dad. You?”
“Oh, I’m OK.” He paused. “Do you remember what today is?” he asked.
With an inaudible sigh, memories quickly tumbled back. “Yes, Dad, I remember.”
“I just had a dream,” there was another pause. “A dream you were in the truck, too.” Jenn heard a catch in her Dad’s voice. He was clearly fighting for control. “It seemed so real, I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Jenn felt a painful tension grow in her own throat that made it difficult to talk. She tried to swallow the lump and forced her voice to sound normal. “I’m OK, Dad. I’m here.”
“I remember that Chris had wanted you to go with him, but couldn’t get ahold of you,” said her dad. He sounded far away now, but in a different way than the far away voice sounded before. Jenn didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. She waited. Listening to the silence. “In my dream, you got the phone call—-it was very vivid—-Jeff and Carrie were in the dream but not the boys—-of course….” As if this was an obvious conclusion to his dream, as though dreams were logical and followed their own rules. His voice trailed off.
Jenn steadied her voice. She didn’t know what to say, but she felt it best to state the truth. “I missed the call, so I wasn’t with him.” But as she said it a strange feeling crept deep in the pit of her stomach that was not nearly so steady and calm as her voice. It was a weak feeling, kind of like the way a lie might make you feel. She never could lie to her Dad.
“I’m here Dad,” she said, not changing her tone. That statement gave her more strength, though it did not erase the other feeling.
Jeff walked back into the room as Jenn was saying goodbye to her dad. “The kids are fine, what’s going on with your dad?” Jenn recounted her conversation with her dad and what she heard, or thought she heard, when the phone rang the first time.
Jeff sighed in relief, “So, you think it was your dad calling both times?” He slumped back into bed.
“I’m not sure. I didn’t think to ask him,” she said.
They sat in silence. Jenn wondered about what she had told her dad, “I missed the call, so I wasn’t with him.” How could that be a lie?! She had a similar feeling recently, when Matt had acted like he had forgotten who their cat was. She had done the same thing that day, stated the truth. However, the statement felt like an incomplete truth. What was more, the expression Matt made showed he had taken the statement that way–-as though it was not quite true, but he didn’t know how it could be false. But why? she thought.
“GOOOOOOOD MORNING, LISTENERS! IT’S JACK AND JILL IN THE MORNING! BRINGING YOU THE TUNES FROM MOON TIME TO NOON TIME!” The radio alarm rudely announced that the morning had begun.
To Be Continued….
If don’t remember what happened to Chris, check out Part 2 – Wing-back Chair
If you don’t remember what happened with Matt and the Cat check out Part 5 – Countdown.
All the links to House Call:
Part 1- Stair Case
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Copyright 2019 J. A. Goggans
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