“I’ll see you later, Marie. Make sure you call Mrs. Foster.”
“And tell her what?”
“Tell her not this time. I’m not publishing that book. Its completely unoriginal and an honestly boring story.”
“I liked it!”
“My point exactly.” Marie groaned, “Ok, Daniella. Whatever. Thanks, by the way, for leaving me the dirty work.” I smiled at her, “No problem, doll face.”
“Is this Daniella?” a man with a milky voice said. I put down the cup of coffee I was drinking and narrowed my eyes. “Yes, this is her.”
“From Danny’s Publishing Company?” I sighed, my expectations coming true. “I don’t take house calls.”
“Oh. Alright. Sorry for bothering you, then. Have a nice evening.”
“Bye,” I whispered as the man hung up. How extraordinary! Normally, when people called me at home and I told them I didn’t take house calls, they persisted until I was very exhausted and had to hang up on them. No one had ever been quite so polite or understanding. I pressed the button on my phone that brought up the caller ID and wrote the caller’s name on a post-it, sticking it on the inside of the cover of my main binder and making a mental note to have Marie call it the next day if he hadn’t already called by at least 4:00 pm.
I picked up the letter and unfolded it. “Peek” it said in big red letters. It was addressed to me and signed from ‘ISY’. It had a key and a map. I took out the key and turned it around, observing every curl on the top and every indent on the bottom. I stuck it in my pocket...that I was now aware I had...and folded the letter up into eighths, sticking it in my shoe. I looked around the strange room and saw a big blue bed that was at least four feet off the floor. It looked soft and I was suddenly filled with an overwhelming exhaustion. I sighed and walked over to the bed. There was a large ladder leaning against the wall, much larger than the bed. I took it and leaned it against the bed. I climbed up until I could get onto the bed and then I tucked myself into the soft, down covers and pushed the ladder onto the ground with a clatter. I started melting into the bed, literally. The covers piled onto me and I sunk deeper and deeper until I was certain I was down lower than the floor. I smiled, content. The music from the rest of the house was silenced and it was dark underneath all the covers. “What was that loud noise?” I heard someone scream, and the door to the room was opened, letting in the song ‘Smile’ by Uncle Kracker. I smiled and fell into a deep sleep.
“OH, YOU MAKE ME SMILE” my alarm sang loudly. I smiled and turned the volume down. I loved that song.
“Morning, Marie,” I said, smiling and sipping my frapuccino. “Paul is on line one,” she said. I sighed, “Well, he better be off line one by the time I get in there.” I smiled and headed towards the bathroom, and Marie raised her eyebrows and headed quickly towards my office. I stepped out of the restroom, after a minute, and walked over to my office. “Belle is on line one,” Marie started, following me once again as I walked. “Excellent,” I replied. “And James is on line two.” I sighed, “Not excellent.” I walked into my office and picked up the phone, saying, in my most robotic-yet-human voice possible, “Than you for calling Danny’s Publishing Company, we are sorry for the inconvenience and we’ll be with you in a moment.” I pressed the button for line two, “James, I’m working.”
“I know, I know. But-”
“James-”
“I want you back.”
“Ok, James. Thank you. Please stop calling me.”
“Danny!”
“Mhm, ok, bye, James.” I sighed and switched back to line one, “Belle. So sorry you had to wait so long,” I said, the morning smile coming back to my voice. “Oh, its no problem at all. I just wanted to thank you for taking in my book. I worked so hard on it, and I’m so glad there are people like you in the world to put it out there for me.” I smiled. Such a sweet girl. “Its no problem at all. Thank you so much for bringing your book to us, we’re just happy that we get to be the ones publishing it.” Belle laughed, “Well, thanks again. I gotta go, Jenny’s crying.” I smiled as I heard the baby crying in the background. “Alright, Belle. Talk to you later. Thank you for calling Danny’s Publishing Company, and have a nice day.”
“Have a nice day, Danny!”
© 2010
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