A Strange Morning

Andrei Semyonovich woke to the sound of the phone ringing. Cursing under his breath, he rolled over, but the ringing continued. "Who's there...?" he muttered, barely able to open his eyes. His head was spinning terribly, and finding his slippers with his feet was a real challenge.

It was still dark outside. The phosphorescent hands of the wall clock showed half past five in the morning. Meanwhile, the phone kept ringing.

Staggering, Andrei Semyonovich made his way out of the room into the hallway and picked up the receiver.

"Hello! Andryukh? Listen, I just met your Lenka. He says he won't come back to you until you quit drinking!" the voice of Seryoga, Andrei Semyonovich's childhood friend, rattled off in one breath, and then the end-of-hours dial tone struck his ear.

 "Couldn't you have called earlier, you idiot?" Andrei Semyonovich cursed out loud, slammed the phone down, and headed back to the bedroom. The cat, who had woken up along with its owner, purred affectionately and snuggled up to Andrei Semyonovich's leg, but the owner irritably pushed the cat aside and threw back the blanket to lie down on the bed.

And then Andrei Semyonovich's hair stood on end, and the blanket fell from his hands.

The cat had been lost fifteen years ago. Around the same time that Seryoga and Lenka had passed away. Andrei Semyonovich had never had a home phone.