Ben's father hastily wrote down the nine digits the operator gave him. He stared intently at the paper for a moment before folding it and putting it in his shirt pocket. Roland left the bedroom and went into the den, the music room as Ben called it. He took a seat at the drafting table and picked up the telephone receiver. He immediately set it back down again. Roland wasn't at all sure if his idea was a good one. He looked at his watch: 8:38PM. If he was going to do this it had to be now. Just then he noticed the marble chess table. Roland rested his arms on the drafting board and went deep into thought, eyes still glancing at the chessboard. 'Susan tells my son all the time that chess is like life. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes in chess you have to make a move that violates all the principles of common sense. I really hope chess is like life.' Roland picked up the telephone again.
"Hello, hello is anyone there?" A soft female voice answered the phone. Roland hadn't realized until this moment how hard this was going to be for him. Hearing that voice brought back his own memories. He didn't speak, his mind conjuring an image of the short, pony tailed brunette sitting across from his son at the chessboard. His thoughts were ultimately interrupted by a dial tone: she'd hung up. Roland closed his eyes, his stomach felt like it was about the size of dime: he dialed again. "Hello." The voice was more stern and annoyed.
"Miss Young, Monica Young," Roland inquired quietly?
"Yes. Who is this?"
"My name is Roland, Roland Conner." He half expected her hand to come through the receiver and begin choking him.
"What can I do for you, Roland?" 'So she doesn't remember who I am'
"I'm Ben Conner's father." A thunderous silence followed.
"You're who," Monica wasn't ready to believe what she'd just heard.
"I'm Ben Conner's Father," Roland repeated.
"This is completely inappropriate, we have nothing to say to each other." Monica's voice went from friendly to livid.
"Look don't hang up, I'm not trying to make any trouble for you." His voice cracked, and his hands were shaking.
"Then what do you want?" One could cut steel with Monica's tone.
"My son, he's been depressed for sometime now, and he's getting worse. He thinks about you a lot obviously. Look realistically I don't like this idea anymore than you're going to. But I was thinking maybe you could talk to him." Roland closed his eyes as he got the request out. Another long ear splitting silence followed.
It was a bit much for Monica to digest. First off, it was in fact not obvious to her that Ben still thought about her. Secondly, Ben's father asking for her help: that ranks right up there with the warden asking an inmate to lock up. Most of all though she had to grapple with the news of Ben's depression. As much as she might want to, as much as she probably should, she couldn't just stop caring about him. "Put him on," Monica said waving a hand in reluctant surrender to Roland's request.
"Not exactly what I had in mind. Ben is going to New York at the end of the week to compete in a chess exhibition. The local chess club here is paying his way, what if I was to give you the plane ticket and accommodations meant for him. I'll pay the way for our family."
"You want me to fly to New York City and see Ben in person, so much so your willing to pay for it," Monica spoke slowly, her brain simply refusing to believe what was being asked.
"I want to help my son. Yes I'm probably crazy, but seeing you just might help. I'll tell you what I'll make the arrangements for you, use them, don't use them, whatever you think is best. Sorry to have taken your time"
"Goodbye," Monica said sarcastically to the dial tone.
Roland immediately began to understand why Ben couldn't let Miss Young go. He remembered what she looked like and that was certainly a large part of it, but there was also that voice of hers. It could go from sweet enough to seduce Elton John to hard enough to qualify as tank armor in a heartbeat. He'd seen that just how it could swing during the conversation. 'I'm old enough to be her father and she intimidated me just now.'