Old phone

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When the phone appeared in our house, I was still very young. Such a device did not yet exist in the surrounding area. I remember very well this old box that was fixed to the wall and decorated. My height was too small to reach her shiny corner, but I listened with interest to my mother talking on the phone.

Later I discovered that somewhere in this amazing device sits a man named “Please Tell”. And in my mind, there was nothing he didn’t know. He could tell everyone from phone numbers to the right time.

 My first contact with this "demon in the bank" was when my mother went out to a neighbor. I hit my finger with a hammer as I rubbed myself next to the tool bench in the basement. The pain was intense, but I didn’t see any point in crying either, because there was no one at home to sympathize with me anyway.

I started walking around the house sucking my finger, which was tingling with pain, and finally came to the stairs.

Suddenly I remembered the phone! I immediately ran to the stool in the big room and dragged it to where the phone was. I climbed on top of the chair, pulled the receiver out of place, and grabbed my ear. Then he turned to the microphone of the device above me and said, "Please tell me!" I said. After a few presses, I heard a woman's thin, clear voice:

"I hear you!"

"I hit my finger," I said, sobbing. Tears welled up in my eyes as I wondered if anyone was listening to me now. "Isn't the moon at home?" a question was heard from the earpiece.

"No one is home, I'm myself," I cried.

"Are your hands bleeding?"

"No," I answered again. - I hit my hand with a hammer, it hurts.

"Can you open the freezer?" He asked. I said I could open it.

A voice said, "Take some ice and put it on your finger."

After that, I called this "acquaintance" and asked about everything. I once asked him to help me with geography, and he told me where Philadelphia was located. Once again they helped me with my homework in math. He also said that the oyster I found in the alley the day before could eat fruit and nuts. When our little canary, Pitty, died, I called “Tell Me, Please” and told her a sad story about this bird. When she heard my story, she comforted me with simple words that adults say to comfort children. But I was not comforted and asked him:

"Why should they sing so beautifully and turn into a bunch of feathers in a cage when the birds that bring joy to all the houses die?"

He must have felt that I was suffering terribly. Still, I heard his calm voice:

"Paul, always remember, there are other worlds where you can sing."

For some reason I felt much lighter after that. Another day I picked up the phone again:

"Please tell me!"

"I hear you!" Replied a familiar voice.

- How do you pronounce the word "correction"? I asked.

All of this was happening in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was nine, we moved to another city in the country - Boston. I missed my old sweetheart so much. For some reason, I couldn't compare the wooden box in our previous house with the "Tell me, please" voice to the tall, shiny new phone on the table in our next apartment. The memory of these conversations, which remained a vivid memory of my childhood even as a teenager, never left me. In dubious and difficult situations, I felt safe now because of the same calls. I now understand very well how patient, understanding, and kind this woman has been in the chapter of listening to a small child, and I applaud her satisfaction.

A few years later, on my way to college in the west, the plane I was flying landed in Seattle on the way, and from there I switched to another flight. I had an hour and a half before I boarded the next plane. I spent about fifteen minutes talking to my sister, who currently lives in this city. Then, without thinking about what I was doing, I dialed the operator number in my hometown and said, "Please tell me!" I asked. What a miracle it was that I heard the thin and clear voice of that woman I knew so well! I didn't think about this conversation, but the words came to my tongue without expecting it: "Please tell me how to pronounce the word" correction "?"

There was no sound from the receiver for a while. Then came a gentle reply: "I guess your finger must be healed by this time."

I laughed.

"So I knew it was still you!" I said later. "I wonder if you've ever thought about how important your words are to me?"

"I wonder," he said, "do you know how important your calls are to me?" I haven't had any children at all, which is why I was happy to wait for your calls. ”

I said I remembered him often over the years and asked permission to call again when I came to my sister’s. "Sure, call," he said. "All you have to do is ask Sally."

I returned to Seattle three months later. But this time when I called the operator, a different voice answered. I asked Sell.

"Are you his friend?" Asked the informant.

"Yes, my dear friend," I replied.

"I'm so sorry to tell you," she said, "that in recent years she has been working part-time because she was sick." He died five weeks ago. ”

As I hung up, my interlocutor asked, "Wait a minute, is your name Paul?"

"Yes".

"Well, then, Sally left you a message. He did so thinking you might get on the phone. If you allow me to read this message to you. It says, “Tell him I still have other worlds to sing about. He knows what I mean. ”

I thanked the woman and put the earpiece back in place. Yes, I understood what Selli meant. Never underestimate the impressions you can leave on others. With this, I want to ask you to keep in mind how much change a person can make in someone else’s life!

Translated from the English by Muhabbat Sharifova.