The call

October 5 2025

The phone rang at four forty six pm. The caller was able to reach her. Filly knew what time it was without looking at the screen because she had a biological clock in her head that kept accurate record of time passage. The phone was on the bathroom counter as she put on lipstick. She put down the new orange lipstick container , she liked orange, and answered the phone. Her blue flowered dress swung loosely as she leaned in, both hands on the counter, her finger pressing the lit key on the screen to answer.

She listened while The plumbing company representative spoke about how the man or woman, who had arranged to come between one pm and four pm was now going to “possibly be late because the plumber was working on another location and was not finished”. The voice was pleasant and female. Filly had a cell phone and she had a land line. She never answered the land line but it was still useful. This call was on the cell phone line.

Dinner out was at six pm. That gave exactly one hour and fourteen minutes before the target time. “The delay did not have to be accepted”, the voice continued, and if she wanted to Filly could reschedule for another time. At least it was a real person. It was not a computer voice like the first place she had called.

The voice on the phone did not know the importance of the work to be done. All the words were code words. Sewage in the line was a code for sew it up. Slow to drain was code for something else. And interestingly enough, the drain was code for something that when opened, could allow something bad in as easily as it could let something bad out. And the bad was trying to come in. The bad had to be stopped. A network administration, re-configuring the router. =)

Some people might argue that it was ok to tolerate sewage in the pipes as long as it stayed out of the drain. But tolerating a blockage to what should work smoothly and efficiently was not acceptable.

She clicked off the minutes in her head. She stretched out on the red corduroy sofa and closed her eyes. The plan would work. The code was secure. The teams were trained and ready. Access for citizens. Those who rightfully should be there. She breathed in and she breathed out. In two minutes, the phone would ring. It would be five exactly. A full sixty minutes to analytics, calculations and problem solving and they needed forty five.

As time continued to tick by, the window of flexibility for that day narrowed. If the sewage was substantial, perhaps the job needed a bigger slot. But swift response without warning was the key to solving the problem Filly knew.

She waited. She thought about dinner. Her daughter was making a delicious meal. She would be on time. Dinner out would be a success…. because it was scheduled.
A specialist arrived the next morning. Not at four, the day before but at ten. At a perfect 10 am. The process only took one hour. The problem was removed. The pipes were clear of debris and the drain was working properly.

Filly checked to make sure. All was well. The swamp was gone and could not find a way back in. Gratitude.

Randomly chosen bible verse for the day…
Luke 18 8
I tell you he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Yes Filly thought, he will.