The Last Call

Thriller Restaurant Series – Volume 18

By Iwakura Chiharu

Mr. Jones lived with his wife in a quiet town in the country.  Recently, he’d retired and spent his days doing things like trimming the plants in his garden or fishing.  More than anything else, Mr. Jones loved talking on the phone.  Calling only his wife was unsatisfactory, so he’d call all sorts of people and enjoy long conversations.

While the flowers bloomed in the spring, he’d call former coworkers or friends and talk about trivial matters.  He also often talked to his three daughters and their grandchildren who lived far away. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent more time talking on the phone to who-knows-who than he spends talking with me,” his wife jeered.

One day his daughters gave long-phone-conversation Mr. Jones a cell phone as a present.

“I can make calls anytime with this, no matter where I am,” Mr. Jones said, accepting it gratefully.

After that, when he’d leave home he always took his cell phone and enjoyed talking with his daughters and friends.  It happened that about half a year later Mr. Jones suddenly passed away.  His widow brought his cell phone to the funeral.

“He always had this with him when he was walking around, so I think he’d surely want to carry it with him in the afterlife,” she said, and put the cell phone in the coffin.

His wife ended up living alone, and some time after she regained her composure the following events occurred.  One evening Sue called her mother and the call dropped mid-conversation.  After a little while she tried calling, but she couldn’t get through.  Sue waited a while, thinking her mother must be talking with her other sister, and called again only to find the line was still busy. 

“Well, it’s not urgent, so I’ll call tomorrow.”

When she tried the next day, her mother’s phone line was still busy.  Even though she tried calling again, it wouldn’t connect, so she got a little worried and tried calling her older sisters home phones.  When she talked with them, it turned out neither had spoken with their mother.

“I haven’t been able to get through, even though I’ve called morning and night,” said the eldest sister.

“When I’ve called, the line has been busy.  It seems she must be having some extremely long conversations.  I thought she was talking with you two, though,” said the other sister.

The youngest became even more uneasy, so she jumped in her car and went to her mother’s house to see what was going on. 

She knocked and knocked on the front door, but there was no answer so she entered with the spare key and found her mother had fallen down in front of her phone and was still grasping the phone receiver.  She had passed away.

The three daughters were having tea and coffee in the living room after the funeral. 

“According to the doctor, it seems she had a heart attack while on the phone.  She might have heard something that really shocked her,” Sue, the youngest, said.

The eldest tilted her head and said, “She must have been talking to someone.”

“We can probably figure out the other person’s number,” said the youngest as she took the phone and searched through the caller ID history.

“See, this must be the other person’s number.  Wait, this…”

“It’s father’s cell phone number!  But mother put his cell phone in his coffin at the funeral…”

 

***** Translator`s Note******

We`re approaching the end of this book.  I`m pretty excited!!!