Funny Bone

“This is Jim Stewart; I keep calling and no one is answering, I tried Mary earlier, Please call me back. I am getting frustrated. I have an urgent situation”

I dial the number and listen to the ring, bracing myself for anger.

A Receptionist answers. I respond, surprised Jim is not yet yelling at me, “Hi, This is Alessandra calling from Blue Cross, returning Jim Stewarts call”

The receptionist calls me Alexandra, but I don’t correct her, what do I care what she calls me? I am put on hold, 3 times, and asked to clarify who I am three times before Jim answers the phone:

“Hello?”

“Is this Jim?” I ask trying to sound professional and capable.

There is a millisecond of silence “This is Alessandra from Blue Cross” I say quickly as though my name was the gold he had been looking for.

“Oh, I thought you were my daughter Alexandra”

This time it is me who pauses, and he who fills the silence.

“Let me take care of this call on the other line” I am put on hold again.

I am someone’s daughter; I relish the hello he first said, the hello of a father, a business man father, who puts his client on hold to say hello to his daughter. “Hello” I try to remember the tone, but no, its gone, in the noise of everything else. But for a moment I had it. The hello of a father who loves his daughter.

Jim Stewart returns to the phone. He is no longer a father, but a frustrated broker, I transfer his call to Mary’s cell phone and pray she will answer when I see he will not be satisfied with me taking a message. I want to assuage his frustration like the presence of his daughter.

I am no longer a beloved daughter. Like a doctor testing my reflexes, his hello struck my funny bone.