It had been a pretty good day all round, Colin thought to himself. The client he’d taken around this afternoon had liked the last condo they had viewed and said he would buy it. They just had time to make it to the lawyer’s office across the road before closing time to start the purchase process.
After they signed some papers the two of them headed to the London Bull to celebrate.
Colin’s client left after a few beers to go home. Colin pulled out his mobile phone to call his wife to tell her he would be home soon.
Ring, ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi Honey, it’s me. I sold another condo today, so I’m down at the pub having a quick drink. I’ll be home in about half an hour.”
“Oh! Congratulations. That’s wonderful news. Please be careful on your bike. It’s been raining and the roads are a bit slippery.”
“Don’t worry. You know I do this trip all the time. I’ve never had any problems yet. Hey! Do you know what?”
“What, darling?”
“You know I love you.”
She giggled at the silly game they always played on the phone.
“I love you too darling. See you soon. Byeeee.”
After he hung up he drained his beer, paid his bill and headed out the back of the pub where he’d stowed his bicycle that morning. There was no room in his office to stash it.
He started out down the hill on the grassy footpath. It was safer than trying to navigate the traffic in the rain.
He was approaching the first intersection when he lost control of the bike and slid across the wet grass, knocking into a telephone booth.
Colin picked himself up from the ground. He checked his body. Nothing broken. That was good.
As he was brushing himself off he looked aghast as the telephone booth as it toppled over onto its side and began slowly sliding down the hill.
Quickly, it gathered speed. Colin could see it was headed straight for a car waiting at the corner. He yelled out to the driver who saw what was coming and immediately backed his car out of the way, just as the telephone booth left the footpath and slid across the road in front of him.
It slid over the slick tar, hit the curb on the other side and came to a slow stop, ending its unexpected journey.
Colin stood there open mouthed. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. He didn’t think he’d hit the booth very hard. In fact, he was sure he had given it just a gentle nudge. Why had the booth taken off like that?
He turned around and looked at the spot where the booth had started its journey. Then it became clear. The booth had been unbolted from its usual concrete plinth and placed on the grass next to it on a pallet, ready to be taken away. Perhaps it was being replaced or even taken out of service.
The pallet was old and it had broken up when he slammed into the phone booth.
“So, that’s why it slid away so easily,” he thought to himself.
He picked up his bike and walked it down the hill to the car driver who was still sitting with his mouth open in amazement. Colin bent down to explain what had happened.
“Don’t worry about it,” Colin said, “I’ll call the telephone company in the morning and tell them how their booth ended up half way down the hill.”
The driver nodded and thanked him for the warning.
Then Colin jumped on his bike and continued on down the hill.
Near the bottom the road curved around to the right as it followed the top edge of a steep cliff. Colin knew the drop off to the bottom was about 40 feet into a quarry with sharp pointed rocks crouching below.
There was an old wooden picket fence along the edge to keep people away from danger, but even so he was very cautious.
Colin put on his brakes as he approached the bend and his bike slipped on the grass again. He lost control as he careered on a few more yards.
He fell off the bike, hitting the grass as he slid down into the fence. He was sliding fast, too fast to stop himself breaking through the rotten wood. Colin tried to stop himself sliding over the edge. He could feel himself going over as he scrabbled frantically to grab the grass, or anything to stop his fall.
He blacked out for what seemed just a moment.
When he opened his eyes there was a stranger above him reaching down to grab his hand. Colin squinted through the bright light shining down from above as he gripped the helping hand.
Then he blacked out again.
When he opened his eyes he was back at the London Bull, propped against the bar with a beer in front of him. He looked around, still dazed, to thank the stranger for saving his life.
There was no one else in the bar, not even the barman. He was all alone.
“Strange,” he thought to himself. “Where is everyone? I wonder how I got here?” He looked at his watch. It had stopped. “It must be getting late. I’d better get home.”
He downed his beer and went outside to look for his bike. It wasn’t in the usual place. He looked everywhere for it, but it was definitely gone.
Then he remembered that he had almost fallen off the cliff down the road. So the bike was probably down at the bottom of the old quarry.
Shrugging, he started to walk down the road towards the cliff. A slight drizzle had started again so he pulled up his collar. He crossed the road and there was the telephone booth, looking forlorn, lying on its side.
He walked past and then decided to call his wife again to let her know he was going to be a little late.
He dialed the number and listened as it rang. When she answered Colin was just about to speak when he heard his own voice talking to her.
“Hi Honey, it’s me. I sold another condo today, so I’m down at the pub at the moment celebrating. I’ll be home in about half an hour.”
He looked at the phone, wondering what was going on. That sounded exactly like the call he’d made from the pub.
He put it to his ear again and heard his wife say, “Oh congratulations! That’s wonderful. Please be careful on your bike. It’s been raining and the roads are a bit slippery.”
“Hello? Hello?” Colin said into the phone, but his wife ignored him. All he could hear was his own voice continuing the same conversation he’d had with her just before leaving the pub the first time.
“Don’t worry. You know I do this trip all the time. I’ve never had any problems yet. Hey! Do you know what?”
“What, darling?”
“You know I love you.”
He heard her giggle again, as she always did. “I love you too darling. See you soon. Byeeee.”
They both hung up. Colin stood there looking at his phone, his mouth open, perplexed.
How strange, Colin thought to himself. That’s the exact same conversation I had with her earlier this evening. I wonder if the telephone company is playing a joke on me for sending their telephone booth flying?
No, surely not, he told himself. That doesn’t make sense.
He shook his head and dialed again, but this time instead of his wife answering, and before Colin could speak, he heard her best friend, Samantha, on the line.
This was getting really weird. What was going on?
Then he heard Samantha say, “Oh, Vanessa, I’m so sorry. I just heard. Are you alright? Would you like me to come over?”
Alarmed, Colin shouted into the phone. “Vanessa? Honey? What’s wrong?”
But they ignored him. It was like they couldn’t hear him at all.
Colin heard his wife sobbing as she said, “Oh yes, please, Sam. Do come over as soon as possible. I’m devastated. The police are still here. They want me to go with them.”
Sob!
“What am I going to do?” she cried into the phone.
Colin didn’t know what they were talking about but obviously something awful had happened. Had the telephone company filed a complaint against him for wrecking their booth?
But surely that was even more ridiculous than thinking they would play a joke on him!
He spoke again into the phone. “Honey? Hello? Can you hear me?”
But Samantha was speaking over his voice again. They were completely ignoring him.
There must be a crossed line somewhere, Colin thought to himself.
“I’ll be over right away dear.” Samantha said. “Don’t you worry. I’ll help you get through this awful time. Tell the police to wait until I get there and I’ll look after the kids while you go down to the morgue to identify Colin’s remains.”
Colin looked up, stunned, into the smiling face of the stranger who had offered him a hand as he slid over the cliff. The stranger beckoned to Colin to follow him into a bright white light that engulfed them.
