Late Night Telephone Calls
Originally published on December 11, 2005
She sat at the maple kitchen table with the telephone near her elbow and a book in her hand. Her head rested on her other hand and her eyes were half closed. The hands on the clock on the wall facing her were almost together pointing up. The telephone rung barely once before she picked it up.
“Well?” she whispered forcefully, clenching the receiver with both hands. Her blue eyes were wide open and staring at the chair next to her.
“Perfect.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, you know when, at the East Café in Buckingham.”
She hung up the phone and fingered the spine of her book. A crooked smile crossed her lips as she stood up and replaced the phone on the edge of the counter closest to the door. She set her watch to noon and placed the book back on the shelf in the living room.
Megan had heard the entire conversation. She knew she shouldn’t have picked up the receiver and if her mother knew she was awake that late, she was a goner for sure. But, there was nothing for her to do the next day but to somehow skip school and spend all day at the East Café waiting for her mother and whoever it was that called.
