A Foreign Call On My Answering Machine (nonfiction): Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
Sometime in 1989, or perhaps 1990, I returned home from work to find nine messages on my answering machine. | Sometime in 1989, or perhaps 1990, I returned home from work to find nine messages on my answering machine. | ||
This was unusual: I typically received zero or one or two messages in a day, or possibly three on a rare day | This was unusual: I typically received zero or one or two messages in a day, or possibly three on a rare day — but never ''nine''. | ||
I replayed the messages. (This was back in the day when answering machines stored incoming messages on a cassette tape." | I replayed the messages. (This was back in the day when answering machines stored incoming messages on a cassette tape." | ||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
The first eight calls were hang-ups. | The first eight calls were hang-ups. | ||
The ninth call began with a woman's voice saying "Will you accept a collect call from | The ninth call began with a woman's voice saying "Will you accept a collect call from —" | ||
— and then a brief pause — | |||
Followed by a deep male voice booming: " | Followed by a deep male voice booming: "— Turkey." | ||
No, I do not know anyone in Turkey. | No, I do not know anyone in Turkey. | ||
Revision as of 12:23, 8 May 2019
A Foreign Call On My Answering Machine is a short essay by Karl Jones. It reads in full:
Sometime in 1989, or perhaps 1990, I returned home from work to find nine messages on my answering machine.
This was unusual: I typically received zero or one or two messages in a day, or possibly three on a rare day — but never nine.
I replayed the messages. (This was back in the day when answering machines stored incoming messages on a cassette tape."
The first eight calls were hang-ups.
The ninth call began with a woman's voice saying "Will you accept a collect call from —"
— and then a brief pause —
Followed by a deep male voice booming: "— Turkey."
No, I do not know anyone in Turkey.
In the News
Fiction cross-reference
Nonfiction cross-reference
External links: