Word Count:\u00a0 362<\/p>\n

The phone rang and I climbed down from the ladder to answer it. I was expecting a call. I\u2019d left questions on a tape at my health insurance office and three days later, I figured they\u2019d be only too happy to claim that I missed the call.<\/p>\n

It was my neighbor, a widow next door. For fifteen years she has used me as a lookout for the mailman (remedied by suggesting to her that as a handicapped person, she can request doorstep delivery) and tester on her phone systems (persistent title). While she had argued with me when I politely told her the car phone was ear-splitting loud, I\u2019m still trusted to answer her phone when she calls me to see if it works. And to call her back to make sure it rings and to adjust the voice level at her end. Though I\u2019ve also suggested that she call her landline phone from her mobile and vice versa, somehow she\u2019d prefer to use me.<\/p>\n

So when she came home from shopping for yet another new phone it happened to collide with my being up on a stepladder wrestled into place amid furniture since we\u2019ve little room to move things around. I was painting the ceiling. It was a balancing act of stretching on tiptoes, straining arms with a dripping white painted roller. To jump out of this scenario to the phone would have been laughable to watch, though I\u2019d expect some sympathy on the twisted ankle. She was patient and let the phone ring annoyingly long while I limped to answer. I growled my hello. She didn\u2019t notice nor hear my excuse why it took me so long. The whole thing escalated from there.<\/p>\n

See, just when I got back up on the ladder, she called again.<\/p>\n

So I sit here staring at the casket. Feel horrible as I murmur regrets to her grown daughters. If only I\u2019d answered the phone. I wish I just had. She\u2019d still be alive I\u2019m sure. Letting years of pent up anger overrule patience. How could I?<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s done is done, I suppose. There are always regrets. And I can\u2019t unstrangle her now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Word Count:\u00a0 362 The phone rang and I climbed down from the ladder to answer it. I was expecting a call. I\u2019d left questions on a tape at my health insurance office and three days later, I figured they\u2019d be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,15],"tags":[25,24],"class_list":["post-1481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-100-days-2012","category-horror","tag-100-days-2012","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1482,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481\/revisions\/1482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susangibb.net\/blog3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}