Sunny Side Up July 28, 2004 �2004, Kathleen Gibson Phones behaving badly For four days last month, our phone went berserk. On the first morning, I'd phoned our friends Judy and Merv. No one answered. They'd call back sooner or later, I knew. Theirs is a tattletale phone. When the phone finally rang that night, I recognized Merv's voice, but he didn't seem to know mine. "Did anyone from there call me earlier today?" he asked. "Merv," I said, puzzled, "It's Kathleen!" He paused, then blurted, "What're you doing at Ron Hubbs's?" "What do you mean?" "Well, the phone says you're calling from Ron Hubbs'." "I'm at home," I said. "I called you this morning." "Funny, only Ron Hubbs was on our call display." He recited an unfamiliar number. "That's what I dialed just now." This is one confused cowboy, I thought. "Uh, can I talk to Judy?" The same evening, another friend emailed me. "I tried calling earlier," she wrote. "You weren't home." I'd been less than a foot from my phone, actually. She'd dialed wrong, obviously. The next morning I called the Preacher at his office. "Good morning," he said, sounding impeccably stuffed-shirt. "Mornin' yourself," I answered. He paused. "What are you doing at Ron Hubbs's?" "I'm not at Ron Hubbs!" "The phone tells," he said. "I don't even know any Ron Hubbs!" I sputtered. "I'm in our kitchen! Hang up and call me." When the phone rang, I grabbed it. Crowed, "See, I'm just where I said I was." "There was no answer at home," he said. "I dialed Ron Hubbs, and you picked up. You'd better call SaskTel." No kidding. I called SaskTel. "Something is wrong with our phone. We're not answering, even when we're home. I mean, people calling our number get no answer. But when they call Ron Hubbs, we answer. And when we call them, they think it's Ron Hubbs. And when I call Ron Hubbs�." The woman interrupted. "What is your name and number, Ma'am?" I told her. "I'll send someone," she said. "Call first," I suggested, "but don't call me. Call Ron Hubbs." The repairman never showed. I called SaskTel again. "We tried to reach you several times yesterday," they said, "but no one answered." They'd forgotten to call Ron. Days later, Sasktel corrected the problem. It seems that just before our phone switched identities, the company had done some digging in our area and inadvertently crossed some cables. After normality returned, I called Mr. Hubbs. He listened incredulously to my lengthy story. He hadn't been home much during those four days, he said, so he hadn't noticed his phone behaving badly. I warned him that his phone bill may have a few long distance calls on it. To India perhaps. Fortunately, he found it all rather funny. Aren't you glad that God, no matter how much dirt people try to dig up on him, never gets his cables crossed? He always answers our calls and he always knows our name. He even calls us - are you listening? You can respond to this colum at [email protected] |
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