(ring-ring)
Hello?
Hi!
…hello…
You don’t remember me do you.
Um…no.
That’s alright, it was about a year ago.
It’s Linda.
…Linda…
From the bakery. You ordered a birthday
cake.
…uh…yeah…it was my dad’s birthday...is
this a—
You busy?
Kind of, what exactly—
Well this’ll only take a minute. I need to
make amends.
Excuse me?
No, that’s what I need you to do…ha ha…that’s a little joke…hello?
No, I’m here, look, it’s kinda late…I was
just about to go to—
Okay, okay, here’s the thing. A year ago I
was working—
At the bakery.
Right. You came in to order a cake. “Happy 65th
Birthday Phil”.
…okay…
Funny thing, see, “Phillip”, was my
husband’s name. Phil. Phil Threadgill, and a year ago, Phil and I were going
through a divorce.
Okay, so—
So I’m getting there, jesus, gimme a chance will ya? So anyway, we used to fight a lot
and one night we got into it and he broke my collarbone. Hurt like hell. They
gave me muscle relaxers in the emergency room. And pain pills.
Unh-huh.
Percocet. I was eating ‘em like candy. I
was high as the sky that day you came in.
Look is there a point to—
I spit on it.
…you…what?
I spit on the cake. I was so mad at that bastard. My Phil, not yours. I was there with the icing bag in my hand trying
to write the “Happy 65th Birthday Phil” with my hands shaking.
…
Anyhoo, that was sort of a wake-up call. It
was like I was watching myself, you know, spit on this old man’s birthday cake,
and I thought, what am I doing.
A year ago.
Yes. So after that I got myself into a treatment program. Went to my first NA meeting. Narcotics Anonymous. It’s like AA, except it’s for drugs. Now I’m in recovery, and part of recovery is, making amends.
Really.
Yep. In the Twelve Steps, Step Eight says to make a list of people you have harmed. I'm working on Step Nine, making amends.
I see…Linda?
Yes.
Do you know what time it is?
Yeah it’s…oh jesus, it’s 11:30…
Yeah. It’s 11:30. At night. And you called to tell me that a year ago, you spit on my elderly father’s birthday cake so…what?
I can forgive you?
...
Linda?
…Well Miss High-and-Mighty, excuse the hell outta me…if I relapse, that’s on you, I hope
you know.
Linda. It’s almost midnight. Do you know
what I did today, Linda?
…how the hell should I know…
I spent the day making funeral
arrangements. For my father. He had a heart attack, day before yesterday.
…oh my god…oh I am so sorry…
Thank you. He liked the cake, by the way.
Oh…yeah, well good…listen, you’re probably
tired…I’ll uh…I’ll let you go…sorry, again, about your dad.
Thank you Linda. Good night.
Click.
…
(ring-ring)
Hello?
Hi, it's me...listen, I know it’s late, but I just got a call…wait’ll you hear this, Dad.