Darling I may lose…

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Alone and completely engrossed reading a book on philosophy, Sam lost his concentration. Sam thought of ignoring the call. He needed to relax after a tiring weekend. But loud ringing tone of six cordless parallel phones would not stop and it began to irritate him. He could not find any of six phones in his large 4000 sq. feet house. Sam ran upstairs for the cordless in the bedroom but no phone there either. Suddenly the ringing stopped. House becomes silent again. But that was short lived. Somewhere in his big house, he heard a cell phone ring. It sounded like ringtone of his wife, Anita’s cell phone. He fetched her phone from a small purse tucked away in a big purse.

Sam pressed the green button, “Hello.”

It was Anita calling from her friend’s house, “Sam, have you seen my cell phone?”

Surprised by her question, “You are talking on your cell phone. You called your own number.”

Anita sounded relieved, “Thank god. I did not lose this one. I guess I left it at home.”

Knowing it was common for Anita to forget or lose her cell phone, Sam could not completely avoid sarcasm, “No comments.”

Anita continued, “But I need it now.”

Slightly perturbed, Sam asked, “You are at Amy’s house. Why do you need your cell phone there?”

“We are going to downtown Raleigh. So I need my phone with me.”

“But you are going with Amy and she has one. All of you don’t need to carry cell phone.”

Anita replied, “We are going in separate cars. So I need it for safety or just in case something goes wrong. Can you bring my phone to Amy’s house?”

Not willing to give up his book, Sam refused, “I cannot come now. You know I had a busy weekend. This is the only time I got to read and relax.”

“Can’t you spare 15 minutes for me.”

“I can’t today. Why don’t you come home to pick it?”

Anita tried another approach, “Remember, I drove to Greensboro for two hours to bring the duplicate car keys when you lost the original.”

“That was different. I was stranded.”

Anita turned to the well tried traditional approach, “Please Sam. I am always there when you need me. What will my friends think that my husband can’t drive for 15 minutes for me?”

Emotional blackmail worked and Sam agreed to be a delivery boy.

Just as he was about hang up, Anita added, “Please make sure you wear some good clothes.”

“Why? You are going to come outside. Aren’t you?”

Anita politely clarified, “Amy’s husband wants some help with his computer. It is kind of slow. I told him you are an expert. You can help.”

“It seems like my Sunday evening is ruined. Why did you offer without asking?”

“I thought you are coming anyway.”

Annoyed but accepting the circumstances, Sam changed, picked up Anita’s phone and drove down to Amy’s house. Trying to smile and pretending to be happy, he rang the doorbell.

The door opened with camera flashes, clicks and loud blast, “Happy Birthday Sam! Happy Birthday to you! ”

Confused, mesmerized and dazed Sam could not believe his good fortune. He did not remember his own birthday but all his friends and co-workers were there to greet him. Just after the cake, Anita handed his birthday gift, an iPad2 and a card. Along with the card, she gave him a hand written note on a small pink paper.

The note read, “Darling, I may lose phones. I may lose keys. But I never lose sight of the family.”

Dear Readers: - I will let you guess Sam’s reaction, fictional and non-fictional parts of the story.