“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
Casey moved to the edge of her chair, fully aware that all eyes in the Dispatch Center were on her. She struggled to focus on her first call, her mind ruminating on the “we-need-to-talk” text she sent Michael that morning. Her boyfriend had grown distant since starting classes at the community college.
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?” she repeated more loudly.
Click.
Casey tapped her console, disconnecting the line before immediately calling the number back. She had been trained to expect numerous hang-ups during her shift, yet protocol required her to determine if first responders were needed or not before she could disregard the call.
The phone rang several times.
“Hello?” the voice of a teenage girl answered, clearly flustered.
“This is 9-1-1. We received a call from this number. Do you have an emergency?”
Nervous laughter. “Oh, god! I was just playing with my phone. Then it dialed 9-1-1 by itself. I don’t know what happened. It’s possessed or something—”
A teacher in the background loudly reprimanded her for using an unauthorized device during class.
“Okay, I’ll mark this down as accidental,” Casey said, tapping in a brief comment about the errant call into her console. “Just so you know, if you press the slide button key five times, it automatically dials 9-1-1.”
“I didn’t know that,” the girl whined. “I didn’t mean to. Are the police coming? Am I in trouble?”
“No, you are not in trouble. But next time, stay on the phone and tell the dispatcher what happened. That way, we don’t have to bother you at school.”
“Okay.” The caller had clearly lost interest in Casey.
“You could disable the Emergency SOS feature on your phone. It’s under settings.”
“Fine,” the girl said, annoyance in her voice. “I’ll do that. Thanks. I gotta go now.”
“Have a good day.”
Casey clicked off, looking around the Dispatch Center for approval from her peers, but no one seemed to notice her deft handling of her first solo call.
🜋 🜋 🜋
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
An older woman sobbed over the line. “My Jeffrey is m-missing!”
“Your husband is missing?”
“My husband? My husband’s dead. It’s Jeffrey! My sweet boy…”
“When did you last see your son?”
“My son? My son is at college. He’s a business major.”
“Ma’am, this line is for emergencies only.” Casey had been warned about kooks. “The non-emergency number is—”
“This is an emergency. Someone’s stolen my dog!” The woman’s words turned into a tsunami of tears.
Casey froze, not knowing what to do, unnerved by the woman.
The shift supervisor, Bernice, picked up Casey’s call to intervene. “It’s all right, ma’am. When did you last see your dog Jeffrey?”
As Bernice extracted the necessary information, Casey’s face reddened. Sitting back in defeat, she stared blankly at her monitors.
“That’s another thing you have to learn,” Bernice said, after ending the call. “Pets are more important to people than people.”
Casey bit her thumbnail. “Why’s that?”
“Because people are disappointing. Your line’s ringing.”
🜋 🜋 🜋
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
“It’s running!”
Casey’s pulse quickened at the young boy's voice until she heard other children snickering in the background. Another voice harshly commanded the others to shut up.
“What's running?” she replied, a smile curling the corners of her mouth.
“I said—your refrigerator is running,” repeated the voice.
“You said it wrong!” interrupted another voice. “Ask if the refrigerator is running.”
“Are you running with a refrigerator?” the young boy tried again. “You can’t run forever!”
“You dumbass,” his partner muttered.
“Boys,” Casey said. “You shouldn’t prank 9-1-1. If you report a false emergency, you could be found guilty of a misdemeanor.”
“Miss who?”
“The punishment for pranking 9-1-1 could be up to one year in jail and/or a $1000 fine.”
The young boy whispered to his friends. “We’re going to jail.” Then she heard them whimpering.
“You are not going to jail. Just stay off the emergency lines, all right?”
“Are the police coming?
“No,” Casey reassured him. “We’ll let this one slide today.”
“Okay,” the young boy replied. “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?”
Casey hung up, deciding if she did marry Michael, they would have to think long and hard about having children.
🜋 🜋 🜋
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
“My friend’s trippin’ balls!”
Techno music blared so loudly that Casey ripped off her headset to lower the volume. She quickly adjusted them. “Could you repeat that? You injured your testicles?”
“No! My friend and I were partying in his mom’s basement. One of his girlfriends showed up, scrolled through his phone, and freaked out. She took his fucking dog!”
“Were there any weapons involved?”
“No, only a bong.”
“What type of drugs has your friend ingested?”
“All of them.”
Bernice intercepted Casey’s call for the second time. “Sir, what is your current location?”
“Um. Four Oh Seven Maple Street. It's the house with a ton of dog shit in the front yard.”
Casey's eyes widened when Bernice repeated the address aloud. She looked nauseated and bent over her trashcan to retch.
Bernice muted her line before leaning over to Casey. “You okay?”
Casey swallowed hard as her eyes watered. She managed to nod.
“Good. Your line’s ringing. Pick it up.”
🜋 🜋 🜋
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
“Not in my car, Jeffrey! Oh, you little shit!” Sharp yapping drowned out a young woman’s shrill voice. “My boyfriend’s dog nipped me. It's actually his mother's dog, but I think I’m bleeding!”
Casey shouted into her mic. “What is your location?”
“Never mind," the woman continued. "The skin isn’t broken. I’ll just wait for Michael.”
The line went dead.
Bernice ate a doughnut as Casey clicked on the two-way radio.
“We’ve got a 10-16 at Four Oh Seven Maple Street. A female suspect is in unlawful possession of the homeowner’s dog. The homeowner’s son is in the basement, tripping balls. His name is Michael.”
Tossing the radio aside, Casey sat back in her chair and crossed her legs.
Bernice passed her the box of doughnuts, and they both chewed thoughtfully.
“Love triangle?” Bernice finally inquired, an eyebrow raised.
Donning her headset, Casey grinned. “Not anymore.”
“You know,” Bernice remarked. “I think you’re getting the hang of this job.”
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76 comments
I love the full circle here, and the subtext is brilliant. The whole story is a jigsaw puzzle, where seemingly random pieces come together to tell more than what is written. That, “Not anymore” speaks volumes. It’s not sad, it’s kind of proud. She has put together the puzzle and is smarter than her jerk of an ex. She has grown as a character, and we can see that through her confidence in her job, and also in her self as a person. At the beginning she is “on the edge of her chair,” uncomfortable and self conscious. By the end she is confident...
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This is the perfect comment. I'm stealing your "posture of confidence" for a red bow to put on the finale. More so than the doughnut and Bernice's respect, our girl deserves some peace. Thanks, Michelle. Artful commentary.
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Tossing the radio aside, Casey sat back in her chair and crossed her legs.
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I'm showing either my age or my general ignorance. I understand tripping, I understand balls. Together, though ... Loved the nuisance calls, especially the little boys. :-)
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Right with you, Trudy. I picked it up from my high school students' slang: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trip_balls The etymology is interesting.
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I love how the story goes full circle, she's definitely better off without Michael.
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Michael is straight-up trash. Casey can do much, much better. I wish her well.
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It must take a lot of patience to operate an emergency service line with all of the prank calls or people who just don’t know what an actual emergency is. I saw one where a man called to say he was locked in his car. The operator had to explain how to undo child locks before he hung up. People ring up to complain that they didn’t get refunds at restaurants. What inspired this?
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Hi Graham! When I retire from teaching, I think I'd like to try being a part time 911 operator. The more I've looked into it, the more interesting it seems. (The hours look gruelling though.) I was gathering information for a longer work, so I decided to write this a while back. Have you tried other writing contests? Lots of other Reedsy writers are on this Discord channel -- a nice, quiet place full of support and ideas and beta readers (and really smart writers!) from around the world. We'd love to have you hang out with us? You are Ree...
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We're also holding another conference in Ireland this August, in case you are near Dublin : ) https://bluemarblestorytellers.com/conference-3/
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I’m on Discord. I never know what to say on there though. I’m teaching summer school during August and spent all of my ¥ to get back to the U.K. for Christmas and New Year. It’s amazing how much plane tickets cost when your currency crashes relative to the rest of the world.
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Great job on this story Found myself reading each encounter wanting to know what was going to happen! Appreciate this creative story!
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That's Deepika! It was a lot of fun to write. I can't image what 911 operators have to put up with...(or maybe I can haha).
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Great story. I was a little confused at first. When it all came together in the end I was pleased. Very clever.
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Hooray! I'm glad it wasn't the other way around :)
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Lucky she found out the truth about Michael. Thanks for liking 'All for Science ' Do you think I should try to shorten the intro as Jonathan and Tommy suggested? Congrats on the shortlist. Thanks for liking 'Secrets That We Keep'.
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As Shakespeare famously wrote: “The truth will out.” 🤓
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I love the way it all connected in the end. Great read! She is definitely better off without Micheal.
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Short, sweet and to the point. I like the realism written into this.
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Hi Deidra! Iam not sure if you will ever see this, but I have been reading your stories and I just love your work so so much! I really wish to be able to come up with ideas and write as well as you one day, so may I ask how you manage to do this? Thank you for your work, they really brightened my day :)
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Happy to chat any time. You are welcome to join our Discord channel. Link in bio. Thanks for the wonderful note :)
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I loved the chewing thoughtfully in the car, it was funny, lol. I heard the seats creaking in the quiet exchange. The quiet pass of doughnuts. Casey navigating through the calls was fun to read. felt like I was watching it happen. I dont know how many times I have accidentally called someone from school, never the police but I wouldnt put it past myself. Enjoyed this, thanks so much for writing. Cant wait to/will read more :)
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Deidre, I don't know if you are still judging. If you are, could you check if any of the stories you have marked as "shortlist" actually show that they are shortlisted. None of the ones I have shortlisted in the past 3 weeks (that's about 12 stories) show up as having been shortlised. None of the 5 I nominated this week show being shortlisted. (I read and approved 62 stories this week. Yes, I'm an over achiever with nothing better to do.) Thanks. (trudyjas@gmail.com)
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After the winner and shortlisters are approved, the other stories revert back to "approved." No Scooby Doo mystery to solve. When you are very bored, hop on over to the Discord channel and find some other writing contests to showcase your treasure trove of stories. It's always nice to resurrect a gem from the past. Happy Fall :)
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Thanks, Deidre. I finally heard form Isabelle and learned the same. I have been trying to join Discord, but cannot for the life of me figure out how to get out of hCap-- Every time I end up at a dead end and their "Help Desk" appears to be non-existent. If anyone there knows how to help me, I'll take whatever help I can get.
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You might want to ask any "gamer" you know -- which is anyone under 40. :) This should take you straight there? https://discord.gg/bxTWQw3HJR
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Thanks, but it didn't. :-( I'll ask around, someone is bound to have a grandchild hiding in a basement.
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Wonderfull
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This had me glued to it till the end. I love unexpected endings. Amazing piece Deidra!
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You are reducing, just fading away before our eyes. Planning to slip out the backdoor? Anything to avoid a retirement party?
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Hey Trudy! I'm just heading off to greener pastures. I may post on Reedsy now and again, but I have my own website as well. Would you like to join us on Discord? I'm sure you'll recognize many former and current Reedsy names. Lots of other writers are with us in a nice, quiet place full of support and ideas and beta readers (and really smart writers!) from around the world. (And news of other exciting writing contests~) We'd love to have you hang out with us? You are Reedsy Royalty! https://discord.gg/bxTWQw3HJR
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Wow! Royalty? Thanks for the high paise. I tried going to Discord once, somehow it didn't work. Will try again. I also joined Elegant Literature and the very challenging 53words. :-) I keep getting a page to sign up for a protection plan, can't circumvent that
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I really like this. It seems disjointed to start with but everything comes together brilliantly by the end. A long time ago I worked in an NHS call centre, and though we weren't there for emergencies we got a lot of emergency calls. I know that feeling of going from fish out of water to being more confident and trying to take things less seriously in that environment. Though I'm glad I never took a call about anyone I knew.
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You worked at a call centre? Fascinating! That's one job I'd like to do after retiring from teaching. A front seat to the human condition for sure. I bet you could write a book!
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Yes, it was a lot more stressful than I had imagined and even when fully trained and with a few months experience I picked up some really harrowing calls. It's horrifying some of the things that happen to real people. I much prefer to read about (and write about) fictional horrors than deal with real life ones, so I quit and became a librarian.
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Librarians (and historians) will save the world, if anyone can. I keep hoping that the next Age of Enlightenment is around the corner!
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Working in law enforcement myself, this is a fairly accurate representation of an operator. I like how you brought it around at the end. Ah, the subtle art of the short story. I'm a bit behind getting to this one though haha.
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Amazing job telling a complete story in someone’s life with so few words. It kept me intrigued and flowed so well . What is that they say ? “ well that escalated quickly !” lol Great job !
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Oh, do I love this story. Such simple, yet innovative storytelling to portray the slice of life of an individual through nothing but a series of hilarious yet real feeling 9-1-1 "calls. Even though you don't get much monologue or introspective peeks into Casey as a person, she feels so real through dialogue, reactions, and that final moment of hers. As an aspiring writer myself, this was such a pleasant, breeze of a read. I want a whole novel about Casey just from this little excerpt of her job alone. Commendable work here.
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What a wonderful comment 🥹 Thanks, Aiden.
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Yep. Clapping
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Bowing...
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