March 28, 2024

Midnight Phone Call

Posted on April 1, 2014 by in OffTheBeatenPath

The phone rang on the nightstand, startling me. “Hello?” I said, clearing my throat.

“Hey boy, how you doin’?”

The words were energetic and crisp, the voice familiar even though my mind was foggy with sleep.OldPhone&CordW

“Hello?” I yawned again, listening intently for the reply.

“Ha! You sleeping?”

I smiled, recognizing the voice, then rubbed my eyes squinting at the clock. It was midnight. I pictured him sitting in his den in front of the television, unable to sleep, deciding to ring me – his oldest grandchild and namesake – at midnight, out of boredom.

“No, Papou,” I chuckled. “Of course I’m not asleep.”

He said we hadn’t spoken in awhile and he just wanted to check on me. I couldn’t remember the last time we  talked, but instinctively knew it had been awhile, and there was a long list of things for us to catch up on.

He asked about my daughter, whom I reported as healthy and growing each day. I recounted her daily antics, much to his enjoyment, and the small mountain of diapers we went through daily. Then there were her tiny shoes and even smaller hair bows, her curious relationship with our house cat to whom she dropped food from atop her high chair.

He asked about Sally. She was doing well, I told him, and in fact we were eagerly awaiting our second child. We didn’t know whether we were having a boy or a girl, which he said didn’t matter, since they were all wonderful. He told me as much as I might enjoy fatherhood, I would enjoy being a grandfather even more.

I ran down the remainder of my list – work, the new house and the dogs, which were doing well even though we hadn’t been able to hunt lately. He asked about his rifle, the one he’d given me years before when I was a budding deer hunter. I laughed and told him it still kicks like a mule, but that I’d killed several deer with it last season.

“How’s my boat doing?” he asked, changing subjects.

“You’d love what I’ve done to her,” I said, “Took her all the way down to the hull and rebuilt her. Fishes like a dream.”

“I always had trouble with that motor,” he replied. “I’m glad it’s working for you.”

“The problem is you never fished it enough to keep it from laying up,” I said.

“Well, don’t make that mistake with my great-granddaughter,” he said. “Make sure you take her out on my boat anytime she wants.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I replied. “So how’s everything with you?”

He said he was wonderful, never in all his life had he been any better. He said he’d just been thinking of me and wanted to check in.

“Your Yiayia [grandmother] says hello,” he said.

“Tell her… “ I stumbled. “What?”

“She says hello,” he repeated, “and she loves you.”

“But how can she …”

“Talk to you soon,” he said, cutting me off.  “I’m proud of you my boy.”

“Wait! Wait!” I pleaded.

The call ended as strangely as it had begun. I hoped his mind wasn’t drifting, since my grandmother had been gone since the summer of ’96.  As late as it was and as long as we’d been on the phone, perhaps he was just tired. Then a stranger realization took hold of me. He’d never known Sally, much less our daughter. And I hadn’t taken possession of his boat until after his death in ’05.

I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock. It was midnight.

NCorley72NEW

Niko Corley spends his free time on the water or in the woods, and earned his charter boat license in 2012. He can be contacted at cootfootoutfitters@gmail.com.

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