Cristian 001: The Phone Call

Her phone is ringing… her phone is ringing again!! 

It’s been ringing on and off since she hit the hay almost an hour ago. Her usual bedtime is 8:45 in the evening. Her favorite bedtime is past the evening tide… but this phone…

This atrocious thing has been ringing on and off. This is the seventh time that someone called!! Is this a phone jockey at the bottom of a telemarketing-pyramid scheme!?? 

Whoever this caller is, they just made ‘The List’. 

She’s getting frustrated; hell, she’s beyond frustrated.

She grips the bridge of her nose and pinches it; her frustration recedes enough to settle her nerves. The phone stops ringing...

Did it really work?

Finally, peace and quiet. She throws herself back and hits her head on the pillow…

…but there it goes again; right when she was about to get some shuteye, the damn phone is ringing again; The phone is ringing again!! This makes the eighth time It rang! Whoever they are… they’re persistent. Why are they still calling? Whoever this idiot is they should know they already made a spot on ‘the list’: a special one. Guess she’ll just have to add a gold star next to this caller’s list entry;

(Good job jackass you’re the cream of the crop among those Telemarketing-Pyramid schemers.)

Against her better judgement the young woman snatches the receiver off the hook. She’s more than ready to unload unholy hell upon this telemarketer.

“Who in the hell is this! Do you realize what time it is!??”

“...Cecilia, you are as feisty as ever.”

His familiar voice leaves her frozen, like a deer caught headlights.

“Cristian!… no way…is it really you… Cristian Guevara?”

“...yeah… it’s me Cecilia.”

“...Cristian…”. Cecilia ’s second response is but a whisper. She’s caught in a daze. 

“...Hey listen, Cecilia … I’m sorry for calling you like this.”

“...”

“Cecilia…? Are you okay?”

“Cristian… Where in the hell have you been!!?”

Cristian chuckles. “As I said, feisty as ever.” I guess you can say I’ve been off… finding myself.”

“Finding yourself!? Go look in the mirror and find yourself! The last I heard about you was when you dropped out of school and crashed from couch to couch!”

Cristian sighs. “If you want to call it that then I guess yeah I’ve been crashing from couch to couch… but I was making money all over Texas and Mexico from street fighting.”

“What! Street Fights!”

“Yeah… I want to take a shot at being a Professional Fighter.”

“Cut the crap Cristian, you were close to graduating; You only had a semester left…I don’t want to see you fail Cristian just because you want to be a cage fighter!!? Cristian it’s already been three years since you dropped out of school. You’re not a teenager anymore. Chico, You don’t even have a high school diploma. How are you going to make it in life?”

“There are many ways to succeed in life, Cecilia, and there is only one road to failure… Once I decided to turn my back to academics I had to accept failure as a scholar and yes I walked on the path to failure once I just upped and left the classroom, the school building, the campus. I didn’t even bother to take a single look back. I just hopped on my bike and took off.

“Sounds more like running away to me Cristian.”

“Cecilia, I couldn’t give a dirty rat’s ass about all that academic stuff. Even if didn't dropped out to pursue a college education, a Masters Degree in World Literature doesn’t amount to anything. All of that crap is just wishful thinking and the whole high school experience is just a bunch of dead memories.”

“You can’t be serious Cristian. . Do you hear that nonsense you’re spouting? For Christ’s Sake, what was the time you spent with me and the gang? I mean, we spent late nights into the early morning cramming all of that school work with our friends. All of those midterms and finals!! You're to freaking dismiss that as wishful thinking.”

“...”

“You don’t mean that do you Cristian”

“...”

“Bastardo!* Answer me!!”

“All of what we and the gang have been through is not wishful thinking. Far from it.”

“... then what was it Cristian… I’m still listening.”

“...my time with you and the gang was an experience worth more than a lifetime.

A hush suddenly befalls the two.

A lone tear streak across Cecilia’s face: like a shooting star a marking broken promise.

“And here I thought I might’ve done something to drive you away. But I’m glad it wasn’t that. I had this rant in my head that I considered unloading on you.”

From Cecilia’s end of the line Cristian can hear feint sniveling. He knows exactly what to say… in Spanish… their native language.

“... Oye, no te preocupes por eso.* Everything is going to be right now, Cecilia.”

Cristian’s calming words and suave yet gruff accent soothes and calms Cecilia.

“Cristian?

“Yes Cecilia?”

“...so about this MMA stuff. I still think it’s not for you. You have brains Chico… but not for you to get your them smashed.”

“Cecilia, my mind is made up about this.”

“...”

“Cecilia..?”

“Where are you now Cristian?

“…I’m outside the Texaco near the tracks parallel to Mykawa Rd.”

Cecilia gasps. “Seriously!!

Cecilia proceeds to squeal with a high pitched glee.

From Cristian’s end Cecilia’s jubilant glee is just as loud and just as high pitched. He grits his teeth because he has sensitive ears, but he doesn’t grit for long.

… he’s happy to hear Cecilia’s signature squeal. Perhaps Cecilia has accepted Cristian as a fighter.

“...Cecilia?”

“Stay put! I’m coming to pick you up”

“What? Wait no!!”

The call ends.

Cristian breathes an anxious sigh and hangs the receiver back on the payphone's hook.

Cristian still has some change left… it’s enough for another call…

Cristian breathes another anxious sigh as the conversation he just had with Cecilia fades into the timeline...

Memories are ephemeral phenomena; transient as they are, yet they subsist through the method of linking one and another into chains.

As moments expire, one after another; memories join together, link by link.

Memories traverse, to and fro, their beaten path from the present to the past. Upon the whim of the mind they are summoned. Memories are mere echoes past. They are reminders of follies past...

...lest history repeats itself.

Bastardo*: A Spanish word usually referring to someone as a bastard in English

Oye, no te preocupes por eso* A Phrase in Spanish meaning "Hey, don't worry about it." In English."