122. Don’t Leave Me Hanging on the Telephone

“Hello?” “Collect call from James Stafford.  Will you accept the charges.” “Yes.  Hey, Jim.” “Hi, Mom.” “Did you get moved in okay?” “Yeah, everything is good.  My building has a swimming pool.” “Fancy.  Christie called looking for you.” “Please don’t give her my address.” “Some others, too.  Jarod and Matt –” “Nobody, Ma.  Don’t tell…

chapter 122c

“Hello?”

“Collect call from James Stafford.  Will you accept the charges.”

“Yes.  Hey, Jim.”

“Hi, Mom.”

“Did you get moved in okay?”

“Yeah, everything is good.  My building has a swimming pool.”

“Fancy.  Christie called looking for you.”

“Please don’t give her my address.”

“Some others, too.  Jarod and Matt –”

“Nobody, Ma.  Don’t tell anybody how to get in touch with me.”

“Lee G stopped by yesterday.”

“Yeah, give Lee G my address, but nobody else.”

“Do you want to talk to Dad?”

“Okay.”

“Hello?”

“Hey, Pop.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, I was talking to Pete at work and he has a son over in Greenville who’s an artist at an advertising agency.”

“I don’t want to do advertising.”

“Well, you can be an artist but still support yourself.”

“I want to be a painter.”

“Starving artist, huh?”

“Guess so.”

“Well, collect calls are expensive.”

“Okay.”

“Talk to your adviser about an illustration major.”

“Okay.”

“You can still paint as a hobby.”

“I gotta go.”

“Goodbye, son.”

“Bye, Pop.”

“Love ya.”

“Bye.”

Responses to “122. Don’t Leave Me Hanging on the Telephone”

  1. James Stafford

    Trouble sounds more fun….

    Like

  2. Kelly Mahan Jaramillo

    I had a job by the time my parents realized I’d been kicked out of high school. Being invisible had a few upsides – I didn’t get in trouble, I had to go to work.

    Like

  3. Deep Cuts: Telephone Songs « Why It Matters

    […] “Hanging on the Telephone,” Blondie.  By no means a deep cut, but not the Blondie pick you expected, was it?  Besides, I had to include it here since I cribbed the title for this week’s memoir piece. […]

    Like

  4. James Stafford

    Not Library Science?

    Like

  5. James Stafford

    We try hard — we just get it wrong a lot.

    Like

  6. James Stafford

    Maybe next phone call…

    Like

  7. laura b.

    I majored in English. I think that’s all I need to say. *click*

    Like

  8. Lezlie

    Kids are ignorant…parents are just stupid.

    Like

  9. Robbo

    Hey! You forgot to ask about the weather!

    Like

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