"Time and Time Again" drabbles by Neville Hunt

Dead reckoning

Time and Time Again #6

In the pause that followed, my mind was racing, searching for answers. With no sounds coming from me, nature, abhorring a vacuum, filled it, as the voice on the phone continued....

"Hello, hello! Who's calling? It says it's you Don. Is that you Don?"

Practical joke or not, it sure sounded like Aidan, and if it was just my mind playing games then I needed to say something to snap myself out of it and check if it was some sick joke.

"Aidan? Aidan?" I started, "You sound like Aidan, but you can't be!"

"And why not?"

"Because you're dead!"

Question time

Time and Time Again #5

Hearing Aidan's voice on the end of the phone was a massive shock! Strange expression that... 'on the end of the phone'... because every phone has two ends... and two phones have four ends... and Aidan's voice wasn't exactly on any of them... or the middles... so where was it?

I don't shock easily... but in this case the sound of his voice hit me in a number of ways simultaneously. Was it simply in my own head? My vivid imagination? Did I just wish it to be true? Was I mad? Or was someone playing a warped practical joke?

Kidding

Time and Time Again #4

I hung on long enough the hear that Aidan’s phone was ringing, which at first really surprised me, but then I figured that maybe his widow had taken over his phone, or one of his kids. But wouldn’t it be embarrassing if one of them answered and I had to explain why I’d called his number. And it would probably have upset them.

I was on the point of ending the call when there was a click. Mightily relieved, I thought. “It’s gone to voicemail!”

But I was wrong!

“Hello, Aidan’s phone. Who wants him?... Only kidding... it’s me, Aidan.”

Kickback

Time and Time Again #3

Anyway, I stopped being spooked and let my call to the late Aidan continue. I figured that I would get a ‘Number unobtainable’ message or something similar... or even a continuous jarring tone, signalling ‘think again buddy, you screwed up!’. I thought possibly I might get the irritating old response “Sorry, your call can’t be answered right now; please try again.”

Whichever one of the possibilities I might be faced with, it didn’t matter that I hadn’t cancelled my call... because the one thing of which I was certain was that Aidan would not be answering.

Or so I thought....

Spooky

Time and Time Again #2

For some strange reason, when I accidentally started calling my late mate Aidan’s phone, I froze. Maybe it seemed spooky to have done so... so I guess I was spooked. The obvious thing to have done would of course have been to press the red phone icon to cancel the call, but I didn’t! And while I’m talking about the red phone icon, or the green one for that matter, why is it that on something that looks like a mobile phone, the phone icon looks like something out of the Ark and nothing like a phone?

But I digress...

Aidan

Time and Time Again #1

I was flicking through my phone’s contacts list, to clean it up, add numbers, de-dupe, change details... I know, I know... I’m a real geek! After all.. who on earth does that kind of thing!

Anyway, flicking through the contacts, suddenly, there was Aidan. That was a hell of a shock! How come Aidan’s number is still there? Aidan was my best friend for 50 years. Still is... but he died 3 years ago! At the time it must have seemed so final to delete him from my phone’s memory.

But somehow my finger slipped and I dialled him!.....