WEBVTT

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Six.

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"I promised my wife that I
would call Dr. Song today.

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After putting the
baby down for her nap

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and slipping outside for a
smoke, I lifted the receiver.

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The sound it emitted, which
I have heard without pause

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countless times before,
seemed to me otherworldly now.

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Like somebody's finger playing
on the wet rim of a crystal

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ball in a derelict
theater before the wars.

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I can't say how long I
stood there listening.

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The rings of Saturn kept
churning in their groove.

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For reasons beyond me--

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my unit on Dante
wasn't scheduled

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until the following quarter--

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I dialed 1-800-INFERNO,
and before the first ring,

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a woman's voice
answered in heavily

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accented English, "Is it you?"

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"I think so," I replied.

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Outside my window
the honey locusts

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sprinkled their pale
spinning leaves.

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Focusing on one
as it fell seemed

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to slow the collective descent.

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"O creature gracious and good
traversing the dusky element

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to visit us who stained
the world with blood,"

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the woman recited as if
reading against her will

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from a prepared text.

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I could hear a rain
trickling in a gutter spout

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on the other end of the line.

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"Please, remove my
name from your list,"

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I said, and returned the
receiver to its cradle."

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