This Slice of Life was born back in the days before caller id,
when phones were still connected to walls, when teens ran like lighting to
answer a ringing phone and then spent HOURS TALKING on the phone. Remember those
days? Where they've gone I am not sure, but I do know they have left an
imprint on my life.
Step back into this memory with me. I was spending the night
with one of my best friends, Sue. We were sitting in her room talking,
dreaming and scheming. Sue and I were good at scheming and quite
proud of our skills, (just ask our middle school counselor who fondly referred
to us as the "Jr. High Devils")! Well, this night was one for the
history books.
Sue and I sat in her bedroom talking about all the things young
teen girls do and we planned prank calls for our entertainment. We
loved to call neighbors and ask to borrow bullion cubes, ask for Prince
Albert in a can and our all time favorite, Is your refrigerator running…
you know that one I am sure. Of course, we called cute boys just too
hear their voices and then we "pretended we had the wrong
number." We were the MASTER of the prank call and all our
friends knew just how good we were, we were legendary!
So this particular night we called Pam (the third of the
Jr. High Devils). We knew she would know it was us, this would just be our
"warm up" call for the night.
RING, RING, RING…
"Hello"
"Hi! This is Carol Dempsey from
WNCI Radio and if you can tell me the phrase
that pays YOU win the new
FRAMPTON COMES LIVE album!" pause… (Sue and I are holding back bust-a-gut
giggles-)
"Oh, Oh, WNCI means more music!"
Pam screams eagerly back into the phone!
What!!! Did she really believe we were Carol Dempsey?
Pam didn't recognize my voice? No way! We talked on the phone all the
time! Are we that good that we could fool our best friend?
"OK, please stay on the line so we can
get your information and we will get the album out to you." Carol replied.
Pause…control laughter…stay in character...
"OK, I am ready can I get your first and
last name, OK good, your street address... your zip code? Great we will
have this out to you as soon as possible! Congratulations and thanks for
listening!" Sue and I are laughing so hard Sue is snorting and I am
crying! Did poor Pam really think she had won? She couldn't have?
She knows us!
Wow! Sue and I had reached an all time level of THE MASTER PRANK
CALL! Monday at school Pam shared her "great news" with
everyone, Sue and I stood backed and watched. Finally, we pulled Pam
aside, we couldn't let our best friend go on anymore, we had to come clean
and confess our prank. Pam listened, but held strong, she HAD talked to Carol
Dempsey and she had WON the album.
Jump ahead to Pam's 40th birthday… Guess who was there… CAROL
DEMPSEY (AKA as me and Sue!) with Pam's album, Frampton Comes LIve!
Sue and I took the microphone and reenacted the infamous call and
then presented our dear sweet friend with the Frampton Comes Live album!
The hugs and tears that followed were intense; if I pause I can still
feel the pressure and warmth of those hugs, hugs that marked 25 years of
friendship.
Sue and Pam and I are still close friends! We have
known each other since jr. high and when we start chatting about old times
or our lives today that connection is still there, it always will
be!
Love ya both!