4424

I was at the kitchen table eating dinner with Dan and Sue. The phone rang. We all looked around and realized Ellie wasn't home to answer the phone. I said to them, "Let's just let the answering machine get it." Sue scoffed and rolled her eyes, Dan got up to answer the phone. We overheard Dan say, "What? I can't understand a word you're saying." We look at each other and bolt to a near by phone. As we listen, we also couldn't understand him. We listened a bit longer, Sue pulled the phone away and said to Dan, "I think this guy is having a stroke!" We listened longer, Sue spoke in a calm and soothing voice- people having strokes may not be able to understand what is spoken, but they are able to comprehend the tone of voice. Sue asked the man on the phone what his name was, he continued with his incoherent speech. She asked again, finally made out, "John Banano". Dan and Sue looked at each other, they both knew John. He started to give his address, "...4424..", Sue said, "Don't worry, we know where you live, we'll be there soon". We all hung up the phone, briefly looked at each other bewildered, put our coats on and headed to John's house.

John, lives with his wife Marie, both ancient. We knocked on the door, Marie answered. We asked if John was home and if he was alright. Marie said he had just gone upstairs to put on his pajamas. We told her we had received a strange phone call, she could tell we were worried, so she went upstairs to check on John. She said, "John, did you call Dr. Dan?" He replied, "No, was I supposed to?" We were relieved John was alright, but a big uneasy about the phone call.

We drove by the house of another ancient member of the community, by the name of Ray. Ray hasn't been in good health lately and may have been the person trying to contact us. Ray's house had a large picture window, inside all of the lights were on and Ray was in his chair sleeping. Dan looked in the window, Ray stirred and sort of scratched his face. Ray wasn't the man we were looking for.

As we drove home, we discussed are next plan of action. As soon as I entered the door, I dialed *69- failure. That never worked when I was young and now, in an emergency like situation, it failed again. I dialed the operator and asked if she could give us the last phone number that called our land line. She informed me they didn't have that information. We were at a dead end Were we supposed to resume our dinner? Someone could be in serious trouble!

Dan decided to phone the police, perhaps they would have access to tracking numbers or at least a suggestion of what to do next. The police were friendly, but seemed to offer minimal help. They said they would manually go through the phone book and look for a 4424 address. After the phone call with the police, Dan sat at the kitchen table with the phone book in front of him, Sue and I doing our own brainstorming. A minute later Dan says, "Here it is! Bob Banano 4424!" We quickly dialed the police again, they said they would send an officer and told us to make our way towards 4424.

We pulled up to a small blue house with flashing red and blue lights in front of it. On the porch was a man holding a small bag and an officer. We all walked up to the porch. Immediately Bob recognized Dan and started telling him of his oral issue. It didn't seem that there was much wrong, though- why was this man talking so weird?

An EMT arrived shortly. The officer said there was an ambulance on it's way. We suggested the ambulance be canceled, it seems like he's alright.. we guessed? The EMT knew Bob, though his speech is usually a bit mumbled, it sounded like there was defiantly something going on. Sue and the EMT asked Bob a number of questions; Sue asked him to squeeze her hands. He put his hands out flat, she repeated, "Squeeze my hands". He clapped his hands together, "Bob, can you squeeze my hands?". He then held her hand, she repeated on more time, "Bob, can you squeeze my hands?" Finally, Bob squeezed her hands. Perhaps canceling the ambulance wasn't a good idea.

For liability reasons, Bob could not ride with the EMT or the officer. We certainly didn't want him to drive, the ambulance had been canceled. Dan and Sue pulled their car into Bob's driveway and we were headed to the ER.

We arrived at the hospital, Bob's condition was the same. Bob was admitted to the ER, Dr. House was to arrive in minutes...

Unfortunately Bob's wife had died years ago and his children lived far away. We were informed that family would be contacted. Our work was done. We drove home to find our dinner still on the table and Ellie home.