He finishes his beer and replaces it on the soppy coaster and gives a nod to the bartender. Looking outside he remembers the heat and his plans with his daughter. Eight months since he saw his Natalie.
He asks for his last dollar to get changed and walks out. Finding a pay phone three blocks down he dials Natalie’s number and listens to the rings and watches the pavement ripple in the distance.
The rings stop short. No sound except for that of his fifty cents dropping down the coin return. He dials again, and again deposits the two quarters. More rings than last time but no answer, just the voicemail. He struggles to explain his reason for the call in a coherent manner but is not quick enough and gets cut off. Sighing at the phone as he hangs up, he takes his last fifty cents from his pocket and shakes them in an open palm.
Turning away to walk back to his truck, he is tangled and tripped up by a jogger with her dog. The leash around his leg, the dog growling and barking, held at bay by the panicked owner, he watches the two coins hit the sidewalk, one rolling straight into the gutter drain. The woman untangles the leash and he stares stunned. This misfortune, this bad fucking luck.
He thinks of his daughter siting next to him in the truck, their day at the river that might not happen. He thinks of her angry, let down, or maybe just apathetic. Did she not want to talk to him? Does she not want to see him? After getting to his feet, struggling through his drunk and his bad knee, he asks the closest person to him to use a cell phone. They walk past wordless. He asks the next person he sees. A polite shake of the head. This happens four or five times. Once at his truck, he thinks he should ask one more person.
A woman wearing headphones rounds the corner of the block and is walking towards him. He raises his hand and she removes the headphones and raises her eyebrows in a kind way. He asks to use her phone. “I won’t run off and steal it, this is my truck here. I just need to call my daughter.”
She looks at his face for a moment and pulls her phone from her pocket. “Could you, uh, dial the number for me? These new phones don’t make sense to me.” She obliges and hands him the phone. He hears the rings from Natalie’s phone. His heart quickens and he begins pacing. He becomes aware that the pacing is making the woman nervous that he might betray his promise of not stealing her very expensive phone. Standing still the rings seem louder. Then, finally, he hears his little Natalie’s sweet voice answer.
She asks “Yes”
He stutters a moment, then explains his trouble trying to get a hold of her. He laughs a little in a demure way.
She is quiet when she says “What’s up”
“Would you still like to go to the river with me? I… I know I’m broke but the boss said I’d get paid on Saturday. And that’s just as well ‘cause the river don’t cost a thing you know? Just sittin’ and catchin’ up, that’s the best kind of free, right?
”
A pause. Then she sighs and groans a little.
“Jack, I don’t want to talk to you. Please leave me alone like I asked you to last time.”
She hangs up. His eyes burn a bit. He looks at the phone as he hands it back. The woman sticks the phone back in her pocket and gives a sympathy smile as she walks away.
Jack takes a cigarette from his glove box and lights it.
Breathing the smoke deep inside his lungs he looks at the sun exploding on the sides of tall buildings and listens to a couple of bums argue about clothes. He wipes the last of his tears away.
Jack wipes his tears and looks down at his glistening palm and says “Goddamnit. Goddamnit Jack.”
