The Pedestal Magazine > Archives > THE POLITICAL ANTHOLOGY > Fiction/Plays >Paul Dickey - All-American Call Center

The phone rings. It is Civil Rights. He thinks he is under surveillance.

The phone rings. It is Women´s Rights. She says she is being stalked.

The phone rings. It is AIDS. He has no money for bus fare to get downtown.

The phone rings. It is Medical Research. He is being treated at the nursing home like he is senile and has no family values.

The phone rings. It is the Environment. Someone is pumping her for information and making her hand over her lunch money for gas.

The phone rings. It is the Unemployment Rate. Hold on, he is going to transfer me to the Economy who wants to know where to buy electronics cheap.

The phone rings. It is India. They hope they have reached me before China.

Ask not for whom the phone rings. I am Black, Hispanic, White, and Native-American. I am not a woman, but I know some. One has AIDS. I have a mother. The natural world once saved my life and someday I may need a place to live. I have no full-time job, and now I am losing this one. My health insurance is about to expire. I do not want to transfer my calls. I listen, but the phone does not ring for me.
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