Dave left a message on my answering machine today while I was at work.

"But Sarah," you say. "Why would he pay all that money to call you from Canada when he knows you'd be at work?"

Ah. He didn't pay "all that money." It was a free call that he made from his computer.

Disclaimer: I am in no way being compensated for this entry. I just think it's really freakin' cool!

There's this place Dave found called Dialpad.com which offers free calls to anywhere in the USA. All you have to do is go to their web-site and use your computer's microphone. The sound quality was pretty good, even on my answering machine (which tends to chew up messages on a regular basis.) After I'm done here I'll see if we can do a real call so we can talk. bouncebounce

Also on my answering machine was a message from the Texas lady.

My phone number was apparently well used when I got it a few years ago, because I get a large amount of wrong numbers. I also get a lot of junk phone calls. So I've taken to screening my calls.

Over the past week or so I've gotten several calls from a lady in Texas. In the first call, she said, "This is your daddy's wife, in Dallas." Well, I know where my daddy's wife is, and it isn't in Dallas. I chalked it up to being a wrong number and ignored it.

The next day she called back. She was looking for a guy that I didn't know, but she had my number for his last number. She gave her phone number, but I really didn't want to call Dallas to tell her she had the wrong number.

She kept calling, and each time she gave more and more details. She was trying to get in touch with her husband's son. She'd found my number on an old birthday card. Did I know him? She needed to get in touch with him because there had been a death in the family. Her husband had died and she was trying to get in touch with her husband's son.

I could feel the bad karma piling up.

This morning while I was in the shower she called and left another message. I played it while I toweled my hair dry. "Please," she said. "I must get in touch with him to let him know that his father has passed away. If you know him, please let him know. If you don't know him..."

She paused. I stopped drying my hair and looked at the answering machine, listening to the tape hiss.

"If you don't know him, please call me collect so that I know I've got the wrong number. Thank you." And the message ended.

I knew I had to call this lady back. After all, she was spending her money calling an old phone number, trying desperately to get in touch with her husband's kin.

After I got home from work I called her back direct, not collect. I briefly explained that I didn't know the guy she was trying to contact, and that his number wasn't in the phone book. She asked if I'd heard of the business this guy ran, but that wasn't in the phone book either.

It turned out that her husband had died a year ago, and she ran across an old card with the son's name and my number on it. She had never met the son, but her husband said he wished that they had kept in contact. Knowing that the son probably didn't know that his father had passed away, she wanted to let him know. I apologetically said again that I didn't know him. She thanked me and we ended the call.

Somewhere in Dallas is a widow still looking for her dead husband's son. I hope she finds him.