Call

Late afternoon. The drapes are half pulled down. There is a chair and a small massive oak table.  A woman is sitting at the chair and looking through the uncovered portion of the window. Ring. There is a telephone on the table. The woman does not move. The phone rings several times when the automatic answering machine switches on. Man's silence, until the machine goes off. Later afternoon. Sunday. The light that comes through the window gets gloomy. The woman is sitting at the chair. Nothing else in the room besides it but the table and the phone. It rings. Several times. The woman does not move. Just looking towards the drapes. The machine goes on. Short silence and then voice of a man says "I know". Hangs on. The woman lowers her eyes and stares at the floor. Dark brown parquet. Evening. No natural light, just a small smoky bulb from the ceiling. The bulb blinks irregularly. One of the blinks coincides with the telephone ring. The woman raises her head and looks at the phone. Answering machine. The man says "I did not want to disturb you. Just wanted to hear your voice". The woman says nothing, the machine goes off. Night. The woman stands and goes to the door. The phone rings. She turns back and looks at the table. The man is breathing unevenly. "I can't help it. It is just there. I am trying to fight it for too long but can't do anything. It is simply there". The machine switches off before the man hangs on. The tape has ended. The woman picks up the machine and hectically changes the tape. The machine is ready. No ring. The woman spends the night standing next to the table. Sun beams crawl down the parquet. Morning. The phone rings. The woman sits on the chair and touches the handle. After a few seconds the machine takes over. "Please, help me. Please." The woman holds tightly the handle. The machine goes off. Noon. Ring. The woman is still holding the handle. The man says, "I can't live like this anymore. My life is empty. I have hurt everyone around me. Pain and lack of pain are the same. I am alone. Please, help me. Make it as if it never happened". A moment of silence, caught by the machine. It goes off. The woman stands up, goes to the farthest corner of the room, sits and embraces her knees with her hands. Sun light becomes darker. The afternoon is too late. The phone rings once and stops. There is no connection and the machine does not switch on. The woman stays in the corner, her eyes are dry. Another night comes. Another day. The woman stands up with an effort and goes out of the room. Comes back and brings with her a cd player and a bottle of white wine. Opened. She puts on a song, sits on the parquet and drinks from a small plastic cup. Muscat, not Traminer. The telephone rings. Another voice. "It is not your problem, it is not your fault. Sometimes it just happens like this. We can't control it, there is no point to be unhappy for things we can't change". The woman moves her lips as if she is saying "I know". The machine goes off. The bottle is finished, the plastic cup is rolling around. The woman is sitting in the corner. The night comes again. In the morning there is a knock on the door. After a while the woman opens. There is a group of several people, ready for party. The woman goes to the machine, takes out the tape, goes out of the room and locks the door. On the way out of the hotel the group passes by couple of police officers. One of them with a grumpy face is yelling at the hotel manager. The manager points up with hands and tries to explain something. The police officer waives neglectfully with hand and takes the stairs. One of the group smiles. The woman looks at the man and smiles as well. They get into two cabs. The taxi driver looks back and asks "To where?". The woman hands over him the tape and says "Go west and put this on". The driver nods, puts on the tape and drives off. The stereo is playing Depeche Mode, song after song. In the hotel the police officer is knocking on a door with fists. Nobody opens. The manager says "This guy was living here for years. No one ever visited him. He only came down every first day of the month to pay the telephone bill and never spoke with the staff." The police officer slams the door and enters. The room is empty, there is phone in the corner. The handle is next to the phone and there is music coming out of it. The officer picks up the handle. Depeche Mode. The manager says "Honestly, I do not care much. He paid". The officer nods and they both get put of the room.

In the taxi cab the woman is looking into the mirror. The expression of her face calms down. Her mobile rings. She looks at the screen, it is unknown number. The driver looks at her in the mirror. She rejects the call and says "Not yet". The cab speeds up, the oak trees pass by the road faster and faster. The trees end. The woman dials a number. The connection is clear. No one picks up. The connection suddenly brakes down. The woman looks at the phone and moves with shoulders. Oak trees start to pass again. Really fast.