电话里的朋友AFriendontheLine
金尼斯·迈克尔·比奇JenningsMichaelBirch
&afriehoutawitness。
—Spanishproverb
BeforeIevenfinisheddialing，IsomehowknewI’dmadeamistake。Thephohensomeoup。
“Yougnumber!”ahuskymalevoiappedbeforetheliified，Idialedagain。
“Isaidyoughevoiorethephonemyear。
HowcouldhepossiblyknowIhadawrohattime，IworkedfortheNewYorkCityPoliceDepartment。Acopistraiobeded。SoIdialedathirdtime。
“Hey，ansaid。“Isthisyouagain?”
&’sme，”IanshowyoukhewrongnumberbeforeIevensaidanything?”
“Youfigureitout!”Thephonedslammeddown。
Isatthereawhile，thereginglooselyinmyfingers。Icalledthemanback。
“Didyoufigureitoutyet?”heasked。
&hingIkofis。。。nobodyevercallsyou。”
“Yougotit!”Thephohefourthtime。g，Idialedthemanback。
“Whatdoyouwantno>
“IthoughtI’dcall。。。justtosayhello。”
“Hello?Why?”
“Well，ifnobodyevercallsyou，IthoughtmaybeIshould。”
“Okay。Hello。Whoisthis?”
Atlast。Ihadgh。Nowhewascurious。ItoldhimwhoIwasandasked>
“MynameisAdolfMeth。I’m88yearsold，ahismanywrongnumbersinonedayin20years!”>
&alkedfor10minutes。Adolfhadnofamily，nofriends。Everyonehehadbeeohaddied。Thenwediscoveredwehadsomethinginon:he’dworkedfortheNewYorkCityPoliceDepartmentfornearly4meabouthisdaysthereasaoroperator，heseemediing，evenfriendly。IaskedifIcouldcallhimagain。
“Whywouldyouwannadothat?”heasked，surprised。
“Well，maybewecouldbephonefriends。Youknow，likepenpals。”
&ed。“Iwouldn’tmind。。。havingafriendagain。”Hisvoidedalittletentative。
IcalledAdolfthefollowingafternoonandseveraldayslater。Easytotalkwith，herelatedhismemoriesofWorldWarIandII，theHindenburgdisasteraorits。Hewasfasg。Igavehimmyhomeandoffiumberssohecouldcallme。Hedid—almosteveryday。
IwasnotjustbeingkindtoaloalkingtoAdolfortanttome，becauseI，too，hadabiggapinmylife。Raisedinesandfosterhomes，Ineverhadafather。Gradually，Adolftookonakindoffatherlyimportaalkedaboutmyjobandcollegecourses，whidedatnight。
Adolfwarmedtotheroleofselor。WhiledisgadisagreementI’dhadervisor，Itoldmyhiwithhim。”
“What’stherush?”Adolfed。“Letthings。WheasoldasIam，youfindoutthattimetakescareofalot。Ifthiworse，thenyoutalktohim。”
Therewasalongsilenow，”hesaidsoftly，“IamtalkingtoyoujustthewayI’dtalktoaboyofmyoantedafamily—and。You’retooyoungtoknowhowthatfeels。”
No，Iwasn’t。I’dalwayswantedafamily—aIdidn’tsayanything，afraidIwouldoholdbackthehurtI’dfeltf。
Oneevening，Adolfmehbirthdaywasingup。Afterbuyingapieceoffiberboard，Idesigneda2"×5&qucardwithad89it。IaskedalltheyOffiissinit。Igatherednearlyahuures。Adolfwouldgetakickoutofthis，Iknew。