"And you tell my grandson that any time he wants to talk to or visit his grandma Ginny Ellis, to call me. I'm sure Jacob feels the same way." She finished leaving Marla completely speechless at her words.

* * * * * * * * *

"We're sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service. If you feel that you've reached this number in error, please hang up and try your call again…" The automated voice informed Jayden as he tried calling the numbers that his grandmother Ginny had scribbled down for him. Jayden's smile dropped as he looked at the receiver on the phone.

"Mommy, the phone's broke." He stated. Marla looked up giving him a questioning look as she stood in the kitchen chopping and dicing various vegetables as she was preparing dinner.

"What do you mean honey?" She returned a question as she went back to concentrating on what to mix with her nicely chopped tomatoes, summer squash, red onions, mushrooms, garlic cloves and habanero peppers.

"There's a lady on the phone that keeps telling me to hang up and try again." He explained disappointedly. His lower lip eased out into a childish pout.

"What?" Marla asked more curiously giving him a little more of attention. She wiped her wet hands on the apron that she wore and then walked over to the telephone that was installed onto a wall in her kitchen.

"Give me the paper and let me try…" She said exhaling slightly as he passed her the paper. Marla slowly punched in the numbers careful not to make any mistakes. The phone rang a half ring and then it was picked up, only to be followed by the pre-recorded message that Jayden had complained about.

"Hmm… That can't be right. Wait… Let me try again…" She hung up the phone and then picked it back up dialing the number several more times only to be greeted with the same message.

"Hmm, honey well I'm not sure what it is…" She said unable to give her son a reasonable explanation. "Let me try your grandmother's number." She offered a small smile attempting to reassure her son. She slowly dialed the number Mrs. Ellis had scribbled onto the piece of paper. She waited for less than a half of a second before the phone began ringing and then abruptly turned to a busy signal sound.

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"What the heck?" She asked removing the phone from her ear and staring at it. "Hmm… Maybe I dialed incorrectly…" She thoughtfully offered. "I'll try again." Marla did just that- try-try and tried again getting the same results.




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