Courtesy Call by Susan Kroupa

Author:Susan Kroupa
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: loss, love, onetime gift, carols, telemarketer, snow, romance, phone, safety, christmas
Publisher: Susan Kroupa
Published: 2010-12-10T05:16:56.077069+00:00

*

He spent the night in a jail cell with two drunks and a jittery, anorexic-looking man who talked to himself continually in a low voice. Worse than the thin man's barely audible monologue, though, was the music that leaked around the corner from the guard station. Christmas carols. They must have come from a CD because the same eleven songs (he counted) played over and over again. Every time "Silent Night" came around, Peter thought how blissful it would be if the night actually had even a moment's silence.

It took a lawyer and most of the next day to get things sorted out, mainly because the policeman who had found him unconscious was certain he'd caught a thief and showed no enthusiasm for trying to verify Peter's story. Finally, though, at the lawyer's insistence, the fact was established that Peter had made a 911 call only a few minutes before he had tried to break into Mrs. Jacobson's home. This alone hadn't convinced the policeman who asked Peter repeatedly how he had known she needed help. There was no record of Mrs. Jacobson's call to Peter. His dogged insistence that he'd somehow received her 911 call was met with patent disbelief. Finally, his lawyer found a neighbor who remembered Peter’s shouting outside Mrs. Jacobson's door. That, along with no sign of any wrongdoing other than the broken window, was enough to get Peter released.

The lawyer charged double rates for working on Christmas Eve. Peter thought that a night in jail, a reputation as a thief, and a hefty legal bill was adequate repayment for trying to do a good deed. Surely, the Christmas Season had nothing more to throw at him.

He was wrong. When he inquired about Mrs. Jacobson, he discovered she’d been found dead at the scene. The officer, a balding man with a Santa-like belly sighed as he read from his computer screen. “They might have saved her if they could have gotten in more quickly, but it looks like it took a while to disable the security system."

By the time Peter made it home, it was almost too late to go Carla's party. Too much effort, he thought, as he showered away the jail stench, but after he was dressed, he felt restless.

He couldn't get Mrs. Jacobson out of his mind. No worries whatsoever. Well maybe she had none now, but he wished he'd never called her, never uttered such facile promises. The commission he would receive from the sale felt like blood money.

He called Mr. Lopez, who made it clear he didn't appreciate the intrusion on Christmas Eve, and explained the situation.

"I want to cancel the sale. Give a return credit on her card. I don't want the commission."

Mr. Lopez wasn't enthusiastic about the idea—it was his commission too--until Peter said it would be good public relations. "They could sue, you know. The police couldn't get inside in time."

"That's not our fault," said Mr. Lopez. "They're supposed to have the codes to disarm it." But he finally agreed to cancel the sale first thing when he went back to work.

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