Phone Call from Hell

“Are you a feline?”

The phone sounded like it had fuzz in it. “Am I a what?” he asked.

“A feline,” his daughter repeated.

“Where'd you hear that?”

“Nowhere.”

“Who told you I was a feline?”

“A boy at school,” Her voice had become small.

“A feline's a cat.”

His daughter said nothing.

“Do you think I look like a cat?”

“I want a monkey!” she said, her voice now loud on the phone.

“A monkey! You want a monkey?”

“Oh, I really, really want a monkey!”

“You do, huh?”

“Can I have one?”

“Sure you can have a monkey,” he said. “You can have five monkeys!”

“Mommy doesn't want me to have a monkey,” her voice became small again. “She says they're dirty.”

“Moms are like that.”

“Are they dirty?” she asked.

“Who, moms?”

“No daddy!” She laughed, delighted with her father's ignorance. “Monkeys!”

“Not the kind I'm going to give you,” he said.

They listened to each other breathing.

“Jeffrey says you're a feline in prison...”

She heard her father take a long breath.

“... Are you?”she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I am.”

“How long you going to be there for?”

“A long time, baby. Too long to count.”

“Jeffrey says you hurt somebody...”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“I was drunk.”

“Why?”

“I love you very much,” he said.

He listened to her steady breathing.

“I think about you all the time, baby. I miss you. I dream about you every god-- every single night!”

He heard her breathing.

“...Lisa?”

“...Lisa?”

He heard her breathing.

Then the phone clicked dead.

-300 words