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5
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The next morning, Ed was awakened by the sound of the phone ringing. Suddenly, he realized that it could be Mr. Brinkley calling for him! He sprung out of bed, ran to the living room, his nightgown flowing, and picked up the receiver. "Mr. Brinkley?" He asked, excitedly.
"No. This is West Side Insurance Agency," A man said.
Ed's heart sunk. "Oh. Hello. What can I do for you?"
"Mr. Wood, I'm afraid I have some bad news: You're three months behind in your insurance fees. If we don't receive the money by the end of the month, we'll have to terminate your plan, thus creating a fee for ending the contract before its actual closing date," The man explained.
Ed placed a hand to his mouth. "Gee, I... I'm terribly sorry for your trouble. I'll see to it that a check's mailed out to you right away."
"Alright. That's all I wanted to hear. Thank you, Mr. Wood. Goodbye," The man said, and hung up.
Ed hung up as well. He stared down at the phone, forgetting about the insurance company and only remembering Mr. Brinkley. "I knew it was too good to be true," he said softly and began back to the bedroom.
As he neared the doorway, the phone rang again. Ed looked off in the direction of the phone table with a raised eyebrow. It continued to ring.
He slowly walked back and picked up the receiver. "Hello?" He asked, sadly.
"Edward? It's Howard Brinkley."
Ed's grip faltered on the receiver and it fell out of his hand and onto the floor. He gasped and scrambled to pick it back up quickly.
"Hello? Mr. Brinkley? Are you still there?" Ed asked, nervously.
"I take it you're excited at my call?" Howard asked, with a chuckle.
"Oh, yes. Very," Ed replied.
"Now, Edward. I'm extremely sorry for not calling you yesterday like I said I would. Something came up, though. I'm sure you understand."
"Oh, yeah, yeah. I understand... It's... It's not like I waited by the phone all day or anything," Ed said and faked a laugh.
Howard laughed back. "Good, good. Well, now that we're talking, we have to discuss our plans for the film. Now, I don't have a working title or anything. But I want to tell you the basic plot so you have something to go along with when you write the script. So, go get a pen and a pad of paper so you can take down the notes I give you."
"Okay. Hold on," Ed said, excitedly. He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from a drawer, and ran back to the phone. "I've got them."
"Perfect. Now take this down; the characters consist of only five people. There's Robert, a quirky english professor at a high school and he really has his eye on one of the students, Regina, but what he doesn't know is that she's a werewolf! And there are these two police officers and they're onto the whole thing. Regina's grandmother is the only person she's told her secret to, and the police officers are always hounding her for info, but little do they know that she's a werewolf too! So have you got it all?" Howard asked.
Ed finished scrawling down the last note. "Yes. I've got everything down. Sounds interesting already."
"Okay. We're gonna meet tomorrow to talk about it further. I find talking with someone in person works much better than on the phone."
"Yes."
"How about we meet down at McGinty's Diner all the way down on Pavilion Street, tomorrow, noonish. How's that?"
"Absolutely flawless," Ed replied. "Absolutely flawless."
"Okay. Well, anyways, I gotta go now. I'll see you tomorrow," Howard said.
"Goodbye, Mr. Brinkley."
"Goodbye, Edward."
They both hung up. Ed was porting the ear to ear grin once more. He walked back to the bedroom and called out, "Oh, Kathy. Guess who that was on the phone."
Kathy awoke and sat up in the bed. "Oh no..."
"That's right. Mr. Howard Brinkley just called me. He was too busy to call me yesterday, but we're meeting tomorrow at McGinty's Diner," Ed announced, proudly.
"So I was... wrong?" Kathy asked, as though she could not believe it.
"So you were wrong," Ed assured, nodding his head.
Kathy shrugged. "Well, everyone makes mistakes, I guess. I'm so sorry for doubting you, honey. Come here so I can make it all better."
Ed stared at her for a moment, then gave in and crawled onto the bed. Kathy placed her arm around his back and cuddled him close to her. Then with her free hand, she stroked his hair. "You... you just get so worked up over things. I didn't want you to get hurt. You understand, don't you?"
"I understand."
They continued their embrace for a few more minutes then Kathy noticed that Ed had fallen asleep. She laughed silently to herself, moved Ed off of her and got out of the bed slowly. Then she covered him with the bed's blankets, leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, and left the room.