Fast Fiction

So I’m sitting here at my desk and I get a phone call, which in and of itself is odd. I can go a week without getting a call at the office. For a while I got wrong numbers.

Today I got another one.

This one with a twist.

This one was a text message being read aloud to me by an operator. It’s called CapTel Relay. The operator comes on, explains what it is and then tells you to repeat how you answered the phone. I did and then she typed that (clickety-click) to the person on the other end. Then I waited. They typed, and they typed and finally she read it aloud. “I’d like to book a set of two ...” a long pause “seats for a red-eye” a long pause “flight.”

I replied, “This is not the travel department.” (clickety-click) “You’ll need to call the main line. (I gave the number.)” (clickety-click) and I thanked the typist/reader and hung up. What a job! To sit around and be the intermediary for conversations. I wonder if they have to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Now I’m thinking that this needs to go in my novel. Sounds like a huge wordcount booster.