The Pay Phone

Sweaty, dehydrated, foggy-brained, and very tired. Joy! I had just run for six hours in Colorado's San Juan wilderness area going up to 12,000 feet and back. Why? I was training for the Pikes Peak Ascent race. Fanatic.

The run had taken two hours longer than I had planned. Lois would be concerned; I had told her that I would be back at the cabin by now, but I still was an hour away. I started the drive back and remembered passing a phone by a lake a few miles away. What are the odds that a pay phone would be sitting out in the middle of the Colorado wilderness?

I stopped at the phone to call Lois. What are the odds that a guy would be standing there using the phone? I stood in line and waited. My brain, in another world, was slow to interpret his conversation.

"That's not what I got. I found three bucks less than that...Damn it, I tell you, it was three bucks less than that...Okay, you'll check it out and call me right back.

What are the odds that the guy at the phone in front of me in the wilderness is now waiting for the phone to ring? Surreal.

"Ring..." "Hello...Yep, I am exactly three dollars less than that...Look, I drove all the way out here to collect the money. I'm not ripping you off...Look, Goddamn it, your records are all f----d up...Okay, call me back. He slammed down the phone, cursed and waited.
This had consumed ten minutes.

"How ya doin'?" I asked.

"Crappy. I came here to collect the coins in the phone, and they say I'm $3.00 short. Now they have to get approval for a shortage."

What are the odds that the guy at the phone in front of me was collecting coins from the phone in the wilderness?

"Who are you talking to?" I inquired.

"The company who owns the phones. They are in Florida."

We wait and chat. What are the odds that we are waiting for the Florida phone company to call back about the $3.00 coin shortage at phone in the Colorado wilderness?

Ten minutes pass. "How long do you think before they call? I need to talk to my wife."

"Don't know."

We talk. We wait. "Ring...Hello...Okay" He hangs up, says goodbye and drives away.

I call Lois.

I could have been back at the cabin by this time, but still have almost an hour to go.