Payback
A story starter.
Eddie found the phone in a coffee can under the sink, wrapped in a dish towel stiff with crud and whatnot.
He stood there with the cabinet door hanging open, staring at it. The radiator clanked and clunked in the wall. Same black case. Same crack spidering from bottom corner. Danny carried that Phone everywhere, bars, card games, airport hideaways, women’s apartments. All the places you’re told to stay away from as a kid, Then one Thursday he disappeared.
Mara came in with groceries and bumped the door shut with her hip. Paper bags sagged in her arms. She saw Eddie and stopped.
“So,” she said. “You found it.”
He held it up. “You knew?”
“I put it there.”
The kitchen was narrow and yellowed with age. Somebody downstairs bumped around. Eddie turned the Phone in his hand.
“Why hide it?”
“Because every time it buzzed, you got stupid.”
He looked at her. “That your diagnosis?”
“Ha. It’s the one I’m billing you for.”
She started unloading groceries. Bags of essentials which is to say, what she could afford. She unpacked the bags slowly, wondering how much he knew, what she should do next.
Eddie pressed the side button. Nothing.
“Charger?”
“No.”
“You throw it out too?”
She kept working. “Maybe.”
He sat at the table. The chair gave a tired squeak. Outside, a siren passed, then faded. He set the phone down between them.
“What if there’s something on it?” Eddie said. “A message. A number.”
Mara stopped with a can of tomatoes in her hand. “Three months, Eddie.”
“He’s gone before.”
“Not like this.”
That landed and stayed there.
She opened the junk drawer, pushed aside coupons, rubber bands, a flashlight, and took out a charging cable. She dropped it on the table.
Eddie looked up. “You said you didn’t have one.”
“I lied, ok.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to know whether you missed him,” she said, “or just the trouble.”
He plugged the Phone in.
They waited.
The screen lit up, a bright spot in the dim kitchen. One missed call. Unknown number. Ten minutes ago.
The phone rang.
Mara went still.
Eddie stared at the screen.
On the third ring, a knock on the apartment door.