The Phone Call

Driving home after a pickleball game, I called my parents. 

Mom upgraded her cell phone … which has been challenging.  I considered buying a gift for our local Verizon representative. 

Step number one with her new phone was making sure she had the ringtones installed … for me (My Girl), my brother (Come Go with Me ) and my father (Always on My Mind). 

Step number two was figuring out how to use the actual phone.  We are still in step number two.

I called my mom’s cellphone and it went to voicemail. I called my dad’s phone and he answered.  He put the call on speakerphone so I could talk to them both.

It soon became clear that my father had taken a break from the conversation and left the room.  I couldn’t hear my mom very well, so I asked her to speak into the phone. 

“Is this better?” she asks. 

“No – it still sounds like you are far away.”

She starts to yell, but is clearly away from the phone … “Can you hear me now?” (Seriously.)

“No – I can’t hear you.  Are you holding dad’s phone?”

Silence.

“Mom?”

“I was talking into MY phone.”

I start to laugh.

Through laughter, I say, “good, I can hear you now.”

“Tunie?!  Can you hear me?!”

“Yes, mom – I can hear you now.”

“TUNIE?!!  TUNIE, ARE YOU THERE?!  CAN YOU HEAR ME?!!”

I have to turn down the car volume it was so loud.

Her yelling got louder and a little panicked.  I know how her mind works.  She thought I was on the side of the road somewhere and about to be murdered.

The back and forth went on a few more times, at increased volumes.

And then I heard my dad from another room … “OUCH!!!  IT’S IN MY EARS!!!!!!!”

His cellphone had bluetoothed into his hearing aids.  Both my mom and I had been yelling directly into his ears.  Really loudly.

A moment of silence passes, then mom and I dissolve into laughter. Although I was not there, my guess is that my father was lovingly rolling his eyes at us as he replaced his hearing aids. 

Thank goodness for the laughter.