“Just before the telephone rang, storm winds toppled the tree outside her window…” (253).
Miss Elva Keene is an elderly widow has been receiving phone calls in the middle of the night but when she answers, there is no voice on the other hand. During the day, she receives care from Nurse Phillips but in the evenings, she continues to receive disturbing phone calls with odd muffled rustling sounds. Miss Keene becomes convinced there is a man on the other end but Nurse Phillips lifts the receiver so no phone calls will come in the evening.
However, the sound of the dial tone keeps her awake so she puts the phone back just in time for the phone to ring and a voice can be heard on the other end: “Where are you?” he asked. “I want to talk to you.” After an investigation, the calls are traced to a fallen wire sitting on the far edge of town where nobody lives –in the cemetery. And in the end, she receives a truly horrifying call. A man’s voice on the other end says, “Hello, Miss Elva. I’ll be right over.”
This short story was the basis for the classic Twilight Zone episode entitled “Night Call” (there was already an episode called “Long Distance Call”). Whereas this short story is a haunting ghost story combined with the use of modern technology, the Twilight Zone episode is more of a bittersweet tale. The voice on the other end of the phone is portrayed as her late husband who tragically stops calling her in the end. Both are brilliant in my view.
Matheson, Richard. The Best of Richard Matheson. Edited with an introduction by Victoria LaValle. Penguin Classics. New York, NY (2017).
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