Call Me

Call Me, Part 2

* * *

Other Buddy was talking to Buddy on the phone. "Take $10,000 over to 867 Gifford. Ask for Ben Henke and give him the money. Tell him someone will call him with details."

Hours later Buddy opened the door that said "Henke Engineering", walked in, and delivered the money and message as he had been told. Then he went home.

As Ben Henke puzzled over the package in his hands, the phone rang. "Ben Henke."

"Mr. Henke, Buddy asked me to call."

Henke had known Buddy for years and recognized the voice. "Buddy, is that you?"

"An honest mistake, Mr. Henke. I'm Buddy's, er, uncle. Everyone confuses our voices on the phone. Working on a project for him. It requires an expert electrical engineer such as yourself. I trust you received my retainer."

"Yes, yes." Henke was not a person to argue with a $10,000 downpayment.

"I'm going to need to describe to you the exact circuitry of what I want. Are you ready to make notes?"

"Of course, Mr. uhm, ..."

"Anders. Like my nephew."

"But it would be a lot easier if you could fax me the plans or at least mail them."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. I'm in a location where none of those options are available. I'm going to have to describe it to you over the phone."

Henke shrugged. He was certainly getting paid well for his time. It would barely take him an hour to complete the schematics and a couple days to build the product.

Other Buddy spoke. "When you have the product completed, take it to Buddy's house and wire it into the phone cord, as I described. I thank you for your services."

"You're welcome," said Henke. "I'll look forward to meeting you in person some day."

"Indeed," said other Buddy.

* * *

Two days later Ben Henke showed up at Buddy's house with a small, black plastic device in hand. "It's supposed to make your reception better or something," he said. "Your uncle wanted you to be able to use the telephone a little more easily."

"Uncle?" said Buddy, rubbing his chin. After Mr. Henke had installed the device and left, the phone rang. "Hullo," said Buddy.

There was a sound like deep laugh on the other end and the receiver became so hot that Buddy had to put it down on the table. A purple haze began to emerge from the ear piece, growing larger and denser, taking shape. As Buddy watched with his mouth open, the haze took the form of a person and began to solidify. It wasn't just any person. It was himself.

There in front of a thoroughly dumbfounded Buddy stood another Buddy. The Other Buddy. In solid flesh, muscle, and bones. The other Buddy was examining itself.

"Unbelievable! It worked. I knew it would but still... Ahh. How rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself." Other Buddy smiled at his counterpart and held out his hand. "I'm you."

* * *

After the arrival of Other Buddy, Buddy's life was less lonely and more interesting in certain small ways. First of all, Buddy didn't leave the house much any more. In fact he didn't leave the house at all. Other Buddy had given him a beautiful wrist band with all kinds of jewels in it but somehow if Buddy got too close to any of the doors or windows, he felt a very sharp pain. The closer he got, the worse the pain, and the one time he had tried to open the door despite the pain, he had been thrown back onto the floor in convulsions. The wrist band, of course, did not come off.