Oswell Smith woke up to a ringing telephone in his office.
Aww shoot… fell asleep at the papers again the aged man thought.
Reaching across his stained Walnut desk, Oswell picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. "Smith Veterinary Services, how may I help you?"
"Oh dear me..." a young woman's voice filtered through, "sorry Uncle Ozzy, I've dialed the wrong number."
"Oh Beth, you needn't worry," Oswell replied to his goddaughter, Beth Greene. "How are you?" he asked her.
"I'm alright," Beth replied before she was apparently interrupted by someone off the line, "Oh, umm, Maggie wants to speak to you Uncle Ozzy, if that's alright?"
Oswell smiled, "Of course, Bethy" and he could practically hear Beth's smile filter through the telephone.
"Okay! Bye Uncle Ozzy!" the blonde's voice came through one more time before an older voice wavered through, "Uncle Oswell?" Maggie asked, glee evident in her voice.
"Maggie, how are you today? It's been a while." Oswell asked her, "Each time I've called Beth said you were out on the farm."
"I was, sorry Uncle, but I'm glad I managed to talk to ya now." Maggie spoke
"As am I. How's your mother and father?" Oswell asked.
"Oh! They're alright, daddy's tending to the horses right now, I think Beth has gone to get him." Maggie chuckled, reminding Oswell of his own daughter.
"And your brother?"
The momentary silence that followed indicated that Maggie had frowned at the question, "he's… a bit upset that you called. I don't know why, he's just mad about you the past few months." The brunette replied. "Oh, Uncle, daddy's here!" Maggie said, her voice regaining its previous gleeful air.
Another temporary silence followed before an aged voice came over the receiver, "Oswell, I must apologize, Bethy seems to have dialed your number by accident apparently." Hershel Greene spoke to his lifelong friend.
"Oh my friend, we both know by now that it is impossible for Beth to make these calls accidentally, the frequency of them is just staggering!" Oswell huffed a laugh thinking back to all the times Beth had accidentally dialed his number and called it.
"It seems that she just misses you," Hershel said, his tone of voice indicating he'd reminisced on that same memories Oswell just did.
"Yeah… she almost reminds me of Lovi." Oswell said with a sad air.
"wife or daughter?" Hershel asked despite knowing the answer. "Both" Oswell replied simply.
"As a matter of fact, how is Lovi?" Hershel asked again, "Not much," Oswell replied, "She hasn't spoken much since moving to Atlanta."
"Kids and work and cities these days…" Hershel muttered, "at least it aint war" Oswell said. "at least it aint war…" Hershel concurred.
After talking a bit more with his friend, Oswell ended the call and sat back in his puffy office chair. Picking up a photo off his desk he tilted it so he could see the people in it better. The photograph was of a happy fifteen-year-old Lovi Smith with her mother and cousin, Marlene, just before her world went down the drain…