Route 66-based story
written by OC,SH’s founder, inspired by his September 2009 Route 66 road trip

CHAPTER 7: A RETURN

The ringing of the land line house phone startled him awake. As he glanced around the living room from his vantage point on the couch, he wondered who on earth would be calling the house phone. Since his Mom’s death & memorial service, the house phone had not rung. People knew the best way to reach him was his cell phone, which he picked up off the coffee table & noticed 3 missed calls … all from his sister.

“Hello, sis,” he said into the house phone, which had only rang thrice.

“How’d you know it was me?” she asked, a bit surprised.

“I see I missed a few calls from you on my cell phone, & nobody really calls the house phone anymore,” he explained. “Sorry I missed your calls. I guess I dozed off while watching “Wheel Of Fortune”…. Anyway, since you called the house phone, what’s the matter?”

“Oh….um, well, if you have been sleeping you don’t have the radio on, do you?”

“No….why?”

“He’s not on the air.”

He didn’t need to play 20 questions with his sister to know what she meant. She obviously was listening to WSM, & their younger brother must not be broadcasting his show.

“Well … maybe he took the night off.”

“They haven’t said so.”

“Did you try calling him?”

“Yes, but like you, I got no answer.”

“So … maybe he took the night off to sleep.” He knew right away that was the wrong thing to say. His sister didn’t say a word, so he continued: “Look, I’m sure he is OK. Someone at the station would’ve called one of us if…………..”

He was rudely interrupted by the ringing of the door bell. During the brief moment of silence, he had time to think to himself, ‘First the house phone & now the house door bell. Wonder what’s next.’ He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

His sister, still on the other end of the phone, broke the deafening emptiness: “Well, who is at your door?”

“I don’t know,” he said as he quickly glanced out the window towards the garage. Sometimes, when he has left the garage door open, people will stop by asking if the Caprice is for sale, but the glance out the window told him that probably wasn’t the case, since he had remembered to close the garage door.

“So, go answer the door!” his sister commanded. “Maybe it’s someone traveling Route 66 who wanted to see you, but stopped at the house since you’re not at the business.”

“Maybe….” He was skeptical of that, but went along with his sister’s idea since he couldn’t explain it otherwise. Though, he thought it might be someone from the state Route 66 Association, offering to help him start planning his adventure already, but he wasn’t going to verbalize that for his sister since his plans were secret … thus far.

He walked towards the front door, flipping on the porch light … just in case.

“Um, I’m going to have to call you back…,” he told his sister once he got to the door to peer out the window. “It’s no mystery where he is anymore.”

“He’s THERE?”

“Yep. One of us will call you back…. Talk to you later, sis. Bye.”

He quickly hung up the phone & opened the front door.

“Hi!” his younger brother announced.

“Hi…..everything OK? Are you still working at WSM? What are you doing … HERE?”

While he peppered his younger sibling with questions, he ushered him inside & closed the door. He was thrilled to see his brother “back home”, but was a bit concerned….