Suzie's Movie Night

Suzie had a plan. Her parents were away on a weekend retreat with their friends and her brother Patrick had taken the opportunity to sneak out with his friends. This left Suzie home alone and she was going to make the most of it. The first step was popcorn. She hummed to herself as she listened to the cheerful popping sounds that soon began emanating from her microwave. When the pops slowed down, she took out the bag and was about to pour it into a bowl when the shrill ring of the landline phone resounded through the house.

Suzie walked over to where the phone cradle sat attached to the wall in the hallway and answered. “Hello, Evans residence.”

“Suzie!” She could barely make out her brother’s voice through the roar of whatever crowd was on his side of the line.

“What do you want Patrick?” Suzie grumbled.

“I’m lost. You have to help me!” Patrick explained.

“Why don’t you ask all those people I can hear in the background?” Suzie asked.

“Just find a map and help me!” Patrick yelled.

“Fine, fine. Let me find one.” Suzie put the phone down on the small hallway table and went looking for where her parents kept the maps. She rifled through her dad’s desk, eventually finding a city map and carried it back to the phone. When she brought the receiver back up to her ear, all she heard was a dial tone. She shrugged and put the phone back on the cradle. Patrick would be fine. He always was.

Suzie finished making her bowl of popcorn and sat down in front of the TV. She began flipping through channels until she found a movie that was just starting. The main premise of the story had only just been established when the phone rang again. With a sigh, Suzie returned to the hallway to answer it. “Hello?” she greeted.

“Suzie! I’m even more lost now!” Patrick exclaimed. Suzie had to move the phone away from her ear at the sudden boom of his voice.

“Don’t scream at me,” Suzie scolded. “And why did you hang up anyway?”

“The bartender wouldn’t let me use the phone any longer. I left to find a phone booth, but now I’m even more lost. Did you find a map?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Suzie had left it on the table in the next room over. She walked over to it only to hit the end of the cord with the map just out of reach. Lifting her foot, she attempted to grab the map with her toes but was unable to get a firm grip. “I can’t reach it. I need to put you down.”

“No wait!” Patrick yelled as Suzie dropped the phone to grab the map. The receiver hit the ground with a thud and slid back towards its cradle. Once she had the map firmly in her hands, Suzie picked the receiver up off the floor.

“Okay, I have it. Where are you?”

“You didn’t abandon me! I’m in a phone booth near a gas station on…” there was a pause and the sound of a door opening and shuffling before he continued, “Grace Street.”

Suzie examined the map and began searching for Grace Street. Having that one name, it turned out, was not helpful. The map was covered in roads and scanning the whole thing for that one road was going to take a long time.

“Can you hurry? I don’t have enough money to keep this call going forever.”

“All you gave me was a single road name! How am I supposed to find it on this map?” Suzie retorted. “At least tell me what direction you’re in.”

“I don’t know!” Patrick whined. “I started out downtown, but then we all got on a bus, and I wasn’t paying attention to where we went.”

“Mom always says you should never get into strange vehicles.”

“I know, I know! And I won’t do it again, but that doesn’t help me now!” 

“Oh, here’s Grace Street,” Suzie said finally finding it. She traced the road with her finger. “If you find Trapper Boulevard you should be able to follow that to Main Street.”

“Trapper Boulevard? Okay, got it!” The dial tone rang in her ear again. As she began to fold the map up, she realized something. She had misunderstood the map. Trapper Boulevard did not go straight through as she had believed but instead had a break in the middle that appeared impassible. A car couldn’t get through, but perhaps a person could. With a shrug, she kept folding up the map. There was no way to warn Patrick. Even if she knew how to call a payphone, he would have moved on by now.

When Suzie returned to her movie, her popcorn was cold and characters she hadn’t seen before were speaking on the screen. She was just beginning to understand the plot when the phone rang yet again. Suzie stomped over to the phone and yanked it off the wall. “What?” she demanded.

“Trapper Boulevard was a dead end!” Patrick exclaimed.

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Suzie said.

“And you didn’t warn me?” Patrick complained.

“You had already hung up! How was I supposed to warn you?”

Patrick let out a sound of annoyance. “Well give me some real directions this time. And make it quick. I’m borrowing a gas station’s phone and they’re not happy about it.”

“Just buy a map from them,” Suzie said.

“I spent all my money on the pay phone earlier, I can’t afford it,” Patrick retorted. “Now hurry up.”

“You could be nicer to me you know,” Suzie replied, considering sending him down another incorrect path as revenge. If she did that though, he would simply call her again and continue ruining her night. Better to get it right this time so she could be free of his constant calls.

“I’ll buy you a cake if you get me home,” Patrick offered.

“If you don’t, I’ll tell Mom and Dad you were out partying,” Suzie said. This time she’d left the map on the side table by the phone. She unfolded it and found him another route, being more careful to check for road blocks this time.

“This had better get me home,” said Patrick.

“Or else what? You’ll tell Mom that I give bad directions? To do that you’ll first have to tell her why you were lost in the first place.”

“Ugh, whatever,” Patrick snapped. He hung up the phone leaving Suzie with the dial tone again. She returned to her movie to find the credits playing.

“Patrick!” She yelled at the screen. As she fumed at the list of names scrolling on her screen, the phone began ringing once more. “What is it this time?” she growled as she answered.

“Suzie, is everything okay?” asked the concerned voice not of Patrick, but of her mother.

“Mom!” she said startled. She considered for a moment telling her everything that had happened, but then she remembered Patrick’s promise of cake. Dessert was more important than getting Patrick in trouble. Besides, it was better to keep this incident as blackmail in case she ever needed something from him later. “I’m fine. One of my classmates kept prank-calling me. You know, that ‘is your refrigerator running?’ joke kind of thing.”

“I see. Still, you should answer the phone more politely in case it’s someone else,” her mom chided.

“Yes Mom,” Suzie replied.

“How is Patrick? Can I talk to him?”

“He’s asleep already,” Suzie lied. “Do you want me to wake him up?”

“No, there’s no need. I just wanted to check in. Goodnight Suzie.”

“Goodnight Mom.”

Once she hung up, Suzie sat down in the living room and listened for the front door to open. It was about ten minutes before the door finally opened and her brother stumbled in. “I want two cakes,” Suzie said in lieu of a greeting.

Patrick glared at her. “For your awful directions you don’t even deserve one.”

“Mom called and I told her you were asleep. I want two cakes.” The siblings glared at each other. Patrick was the one who conceded.

“Fine! Two cakes.”