Wrong Cell phone, Wrong Number

In memory of my beloved grandpa

We were hanging in the dining room, chitchatting, my cousin, Zara, and I, when my grandpa came out of his room, his cell phone in his hand.

"Girls," he said, putting his mobile on the table, "I just received an SMS, read it for me." He couldn't read because he'd never had the opportunity to go to school. His father died young. And since he was the eldest child, he had to go to work from a young age and take care of his mother and his siblings.

"Sure," Zara shrugged nonchalantly. Picking up his cell phone, she let her eyes wander up and down the screen for a moment, skimming the text. I was watching her, waiting to hear something about his SIM card's latest tariff. But I didn't.

"Well, this is interesting," she didn't look nonchalant anymore.

"What?" I perked up immediately, "What is?"

She began reading then. Her voice loud and slightly wavering with stifled laughter.

If right now, a smile should
appear on your face.
It's because at this very minute,
I am thinking of you
and I am smiling too.

Sender: Unknown

I was shocked. This was not the kind of SMS he normally received. It was usually an SMS from his friends about work. Zara, on the other hand, looked thoroughly amused. Typical.

"Well," she said, putting the mobile on the table again, "looks like somebody has a secret girlfriend.

"Who? Me?" my grandpa asked, a lost look on his face. Poor guy, he still didn't know he had two little devils for grandchildren.

Yeah, I could feel the devil in me, the one I usually keep under lock and key, waking up.

"Come on grandpa," I said in the most evil tone I could muster. "Your secret is out now," I paused dramatically for maximum effect, and then continued, "Spill the beans."

"We won't tell grandma a thing, we promise, right Mary?" Zara said, wiggling her brows.

"Yeah," I nodded.

He didn't get the chance to react.

And next came an angry voice, "Excuse me?!"
Ah, there she was. My grandma, who was nowhere in sight until that moment, suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Just our luck.

"Did I just hear something about a romantic SMS from an unknown number and a girlfriend?" her voice boomed across the room, causing us to jump.

Upon hearing her voice the devil in me reared its head once again. I knew for a fact that it was just an accident, that it was sent to my grandpa by mistake, but I couldn't resist the temptation. The temptation to tease my grandma a little bit. So, I snuck a quick glance at Zara and winked at her to let her in on my secret decision.

"Yes, it's probably from his beloved Margaret," I said with a straight face while elbowing Zara who seemed to have a hard time stifling her snickers. Don't you dare ruin my plans with your unnecessary snickers.

You see, Margaret was the woman on whom my grandpa had a crush before meeting my grandma. I've never met that woman in person, but Zara has. Anyways, I think it was only natural that my grandma was jealous. We were talking about her husband's ex flame after all.

Not surprisingly, my grandpa, being a super cool guy, didn't hesitate to play along. "Oh yeah, that's probably her number. I've been meaning to give her a call to see how she's doing, I miss her so much," the lost look on his face was gone now, and to say that his tone was dripping with mischievousness would be an understatement.

And that's when all hell broke loose, Zara and I broke into a fit of laughter and the clash of words began, just as we expected. We meant no harm, we were just bored, we wanted to have some fun, my grandparents happened to be there, one thing led to another and..., they were extremely adorable when they argued like that.

Watching them argue is like watching a romantic comedy in which my grandma has steam coming out of her ears while my grandpa is all smiley and cool. What made it even more interesting was that my grandma thought the importance and seriousness of their arguments, or their fights, as she used to put it, were identical to those of the world wars. But the truth is that they were not fights, they were just simple verbal arguments. They were not serious either; they were pretty cute. Ask anyone who's seen them argue. Later that day, we explained to my grandma that it was just joke and that she had nothing to worry about.