SFS1 - Science Fiction Short Stories Read Online Free PDF

noticed
my
balance had been reduced even though no one
had
answered
the call.
I called
customer
service to complain.
“No one has picked up my call but still you've
charged me for time spent. What gives?”
    “We can't force ghosts to talk with you. If they
know you and want to talk with you, then
they'll answer your calls. Per our policy we
collect a connectivity charge of $1 per call, even
if the call is not answered.”
“Really?”
    “Yes, please check our terms. For the best
response, you should call ghosts you know like
relatives or friends. Celebrities and people you
don't know answer stranger's calls only very
rarely.”
Now I understood the proverb, 'the devil you
know is better than the angel you don't know.'
So I decided to call some devil I did know.
Suddenly my wife came to mind. I decided to
try to use the service to call someone that was
still alive. I mean, investigating the service was
my goal for the article and that would be part
of it. So I gave my wife's date of birth and her
full name. It showed me a list of people that I
could choose from and I chose her name. It
rang.
“Hello?” asked my wife, her voice a little
unclear.
     
“Hi Lilly, Are you in hell?” I asked, somewhat
surprised.
    “Hey Joe. Yes, I'm in the hall way. Why are you
calling me from such a strange number? You're
just
in the bedroom,
right?
What
are you
calling me for?”
    She hung up the phone and walked into the
bedroom. After seeing her I understood what
had happened. They simply had routed the call
to my wife's mobile number. I hadn't been in
her brain at all. I checked the balance which
was getting lower by the minute. I decided it
was best to talk to some other ghosts.
    After
thinking long and
hard
about
who
I
could call, I decided to call my old friend James
who had died in a train derailment a couple
years before. I wasn't able to attend the funeral
because I had been on vacation when he died. I
didn't know whether or not he knew that. I
thought to myself that I'd have to apologize for
not being able to make it. I knew his birthday
from
my
calendar
and
reverse-engineered
what year he would have been born in based
on his age. I didn't know when he died so I
searched on the laptop for it but still couldn't
find anything. I decided to call my friend Ben
to see if he knew.
“Hey Ben, how are you man?” I asked.
     
“Pretty good, Joe. How are you? Did you find a
new job?”
     
“Just been doing some freelance writing. Can I
ask you a quick question?”
     
“Sure, shoot.”
     
“Do you know James' date of death?”
    He laughed and told me the date of James'
death. Then he said, “I know why you're
asking. I also tried to call him but haven't been
able to
reach
him.
That
devil
James hasn't
responded.”
    I was shocked and surprised. I knew that Ben
never spent a penny on others. The idea that he
would
spend
money to
call
a ghost
was
unbelievable.
“Why did you call him?”
    He took a moment before he replied. “I had
free minutes so I used them to call him hoping
I could get the number of his girlfriend. I mean
it's not that useful to him any more.”
    I thought for a second and understood why
some countries might want to ban this. After
death people should
be allowed
to
rest
in
peace,
not
be
hassled
about
their
former
girlfriends.
“Alright Ben, thanks for the info! I'll catch you
later.”
    I tried contacting James again. My phone told
me 'ghost
not
found.'
I tried
with all
the
combinations of information I could think of
but I got the same message again and again. I
was surprised and confused. Maybe he was
using some kind of 'Do Not Disturb' service. I
called customer support and inquired about it.
They told
me that
there wasn't
any such
service for ghosts. Any call they received they
would get but they didn't have to answer it.
They told me that the person's actual date of
birth or death was probably different from the
information that I had. I explained that I was
sure that