Loud whizzing came from my pocket and got louder the longer I let it go on. Cell phones always annoyed me, because in case you heard it the first time, phone manufacturers want to make sure everyone else hears it the second time.
“You should turn off your cell phone,” Sharon said from across the table. She smiled and glanced at the other tables and gave off a small sigh when she turned back to me. “Well?”
I took the phone out of my pocket and looked at the number/station: Unknown. This was an untraceable phone, so anyone calling me wouldn’t have an unknown number. Chances of it being the wrong number were nil. I hesitated about answering because I knew how the authorities were. They’d be here quicker than it took Sharon to look around to see if anyone was annoyed by my ringing phone.
“Let me take this,” I say to her. I winked when she bounced back in her chair and folded her arms. “It’s important.”
“Ted,” she called out, but I pivoted and walked away.
The phone station sat in another room. As I walked past the waiters in their fancy black and white tuxedos and waitresses in their black dresses and white button down dress shirts and their hair pulled back into a bun, I was already thinking about what’s going to happen next. Either I’d been caught or maybe it was one of my contacts calling. But that wouldn’t be right. None of my so-called friends would be calling from an unlisted number.
An exit sign flickered green to my right and I knew of another one in the back, past the lounge and through the hallway with the funny curtains. The only other exit was the front doors, and I wouldn’t be going through those if shi.t came up. For the first time, I paid attention to the windows. If need be, I’d be crashing through one of those suckers; I always wondered if it would be like the movies where I’d land clean on my feet, unbruised, with two guns cock.ed in my hands.
The red phone station was waiting for me. I walked inside and shut and locked the heavy, brown plastic doors. Breadcrumbs dotted the brown wooden bench. Now wasn’t the time to sit down, anyway. I needed to find out who had my number and why they were calling me from an unlisted location. I brought up the phone again and saw it was a video message. No lie, I breathed a sigh of relief.
The phone dock sat in front of me, I loaded my phone into it, pressed the number that just called, and delayed the activation time by 5 seconds so I could step back to the bench.
A circle in the middle of the floor shot up streams of muted white light, and seconds later, flashes of color streamed through. Then words formed: Delpunk Technologies swirled red, green, and purple in the center of the lights before disappearing.
A loud beep signaled the message was about to begin in five, four, three, two …
The white lights disappeared and an opaque image of a woman appeared, smiling, shoulders straight, sitting in front of a bookcase. My mother.
My jaw set and I cock.ed my head. My heart beat faster and sent out waves of convulsions that settled in my arms; my fingers twitched, ready to feel the full impact of the jolts.
There was no reason for my mother to call unless it was a dire emergency.
Her thin lips smiled at the camera, increasing the wrinkles around them. Her hair was grayer than the last time I remembered it, but it was still in her trademark low bun and long bang. The DelPunk technology was top grade in this place. Even mom’s eyes looked exactly the misty gray that I remembered, and twinkled as she stared at the wall behind me. She put her hand to her mouth and coughed twice and then she spoke.
“Solis, this is your mom speaking.”
Just like her. She leaves a video message and has to remind me that it’s her. I chuckled.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t spoken to you in a few years, but…”
Now my heart pounded and I balled and unball my fists uncontrollably. I couldn’t take my eyes off the person in front of me. Not even if I wanted to.
“We need to see each other. Now. I can’t give you the details, but we need to see each other. I know that you’re on the run, but this is important, Solis. We need to talk. You know the number. Call me.”
Her image faded out into the streaming white light and another beep from the machine signaled it was shutting down. ‘DelPunk Technologies,’ in its flurry of lights flashed for a few seconds and then everything went silent.
I took several deep breaths. Something fell down my cheek, and when I touch it, it was wet. I didn’t even realize I was crying. I wiped my sleeve across my face and thought of what to do next.
I needed to see that message again.
The machine started up again and again as I rewatched the message. I scoured it for details. Something wasn’t right. My gut practically shouted it. My heart throbbed it.
“You should turn off your cell phone,” Sharon said from across the table. She smiled and glanced at the other tables and gave off a small sigh when she turned back to me. “Well?”
I took the phone out of my pocket and looked at the number/station: Unknown. This was an untraceable phone, so anyone calling me wouldn’t have an unknown number. Chances of it being the wrong number were nil. I hesitated about answering because I knew how the authorities were. They’d be here quicker than it took Sharon to look around to see if anyone was annoyed by my ringing phone.
“Let me take this,” I say to her. I winked when she bounced back in her chair and folded her arms. “It’s important.”
“Ted,” she called out, but I pivoted and walked away.
The phone station sat in another room. As I walked past the waiters in their fancy black and white tuxedos and waitresses in their black dresses and white button down dress shirts and their hair pulled back into a bun, I was already thinking about what’s going to happen next. Either I’d been caught or maybe it was one of my contacts calling. But that wouldn’t be right. None of my so-called friends would be calling from an unlisted number.
An exit sign flickered green to my right and I knew of another one in the back, past the lounge and through the hallway with the funny curtains. The only other exit was the front doors, and I wouldn’t be going through those if shi.t came up. For the first time, I paid attention to the windows. If need be, I’d be crashing through one of those suckers; I always wondered if it would be like the movies where I’d land clean on my feet, unbruised, with two guns cock.ed in my hands.
The red phone station was waiting for me. I walked inside and shut and locked the heavy, brown plastic doors. Breadcrumbs dotted the brown wooden bench. Now wasn’t the time to sit down, anyway. I needed to find out who had my number and why they were calling me from an unlisted location. I brought up the phone again and saw it was a video message. No lie, I breathed a sigh of relief.
The phone dock sat in front of me, I loaded my phone into it, pressed the number that just called, and delayed the activation time by 5 seconds so I could step back to the bench.
A circle in the middle of the floor shot up streams of muted white light, and seconds later, flashes of color streamed through. Then words formed: Delpunk Technologies swirled red, green, and purple in the center of the lights before disappearing.
A loud beep signaled the message was about to begin in five, four, three, two …
The white lights disappeared and an opaque image of a woman appeared, smiling, shoulders straight, sitting in front of a bookcase. My mother.
My jaw set and I cock.ed my head. My heart beat faster and sent out waves of convulsions that settled in my arms; my fingers twitched, ready to feel the full impact of the jolts.
There was no reason for my mother to call unless it was a dire emergency.
Her thin lips smiled at the camera, increasing the wrinkles around them. Her hair was grayer than the last time I remembered it, but it was still in her trademark low bun and long bang. The DelPunk technology was top grade in this place. Even mom’s eyes looked exactly the misty gray that I remembered, and twinkled as she stared at the wall behind me. She put her hand to her mouth and coughed twice and then she spoke.
“Solis, this is your mom speaking.”
Just like her. She leaves a video message and has to remind me that it’s her. I chuckled.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t spoken to you in a few years, but…”
Now my heart pounded and I balled and unball my fists uncontrollably. I couldn’t take my eyes off the person in front of me. Not even if I wanted to.
“We need to see each other. Now. I can’t give you the details, but we need to see each other. I know that you’re on the run, but this is important, Solis. We need to talk. You know the number. Call me.”
Her image faded out into the streaming white light and another beep from the machine signaled it was shutting down. ‘DelPunk Technologies,’ in its flurry of lights flashed for a few seconds and then everything went silent.
I took several deep breaths. Something fell down my cheek, and when I touch it, it was wet. I didn’t even realize I was crying. I wiped my sleeve across my face and thought of what to do next.
I needed to see that message again.
The machine started up again and again as I rewatched the message. I scoured it for details. Something wasn’t right. My gut practically shouted it. My heart throbbed it.