Breakthrough III

About an hour later, Zip was still sitting at her home office desk. The second phone line light blinked then rang. It was a customer call for her, just talk, caller service. She had been on the phone since nine that morning and she was exhausted. She took a sip of lemonade then answered the call.

“Hello, this is the listener speaking. What’s on your mind?”

“I’m home by myself and I’m afraid. Mommy has been gone for two nights and I don’t have anything else to eat,” a child’s voice said.

“What’s your name sweetie?”

“Rhonda.”

“How old are you, Rhonda?”

“I’m eight.”

“Where did you get this number?” she looked at the call timer, watching the seconds go by. She was loosing money. She always franked these types of calls.

“I saw it on a piece of paper mommy cut out of the newspaper.”

“Where did your mommy say she was going, Rhonda?”

“She said she was going to work but she has not come back and I’m scared,” she fretted.

“I know, sweetie. Do you know your address?”

“Not all of it but we live on 22nd Street South.”

“What’s your telephone number?” Rhonda gave her the number.

Zip recognized the area code.

“Rhonda, where about in Florida do you live?”

“St. Petersburg.”

“Rhonda, I’ll see what I can do to get someone to find your mommy and I’ll call you back after I make a couple of calls to get help. Don’t open the door for anyone unless it’s the police, okay?”

“Okay.” Rhonda hung up.

She tugged at the old metal file drawer of the battered desk, cringing at the scrape of metal on metal as she pulled the drawer open. She took out a binder of emergency numbers for all the major cities and metropolitan areas in the United States that included police departments, social services, fire departments and even the humane societies. Though her advertisements explained the kind of service provided, the irrelevant calls kept occurring. She was frustrated by the calls, but she didn’t have the heart to turn away someone that needed help. She contacted the St. Petersburg police department and social services then called Rhonda back to let her know that help was on the way.

To be continued ...
© 2007 by Miss Mary