The phone rang a few times, then a frantic, “Hey, I gotta call you back!” In my dad’s gruff farmer voice. I sent him a text that it wasn’t urgent, and I hoped everything was okay.
A few minutes later, he returned my call. “Hey,” he said.
“Is everything ok? You didn’t have to answer! It sounded loud wherever you were!”
“Well, I did have to answer because I was in the middle of a restaurant and my phone was ringing.” It’s important to add here that my dad is nearly deaf, so when his phone rings, it is on the loudest setting, and also flashing a strobe light.
I laughed, “Dad! You gotta turn your ringer off!”
“You know what’s worse?” He added, “My hands were covered in fried chicken grease, so it was just sliding around and that touchscreen didn’t want to work!”
I pictured my dad causing a scene in the tiny country restaurant in my hometown and laughed. I’m sure my mom was less than pleased with the whole thing.
“What did you call for anyway?” He asked.
“I just wanted to compare brackets!” His tone immediately changed to an excited one as he chatted away about his upsets and favorites and who he has in the final four. I’m not a big basketball fan, but I play along, and I’m excited to watch some games with him when we visit next week for spring break.