Sunday, July 6, 2014

Prompt: Looking for Meaning in Random Text Photos

I got the first photo on July 3th at 1:53am. “Yo” said the text bubble. With a photo of trash in front of a sewer drain. I didn’t recognize the phone number, so I ignored it. If anything, I thought it was a wrong number, or a stupid prank.

But the next day, as I was walking the dogs, I found myself looking around, noticing the sewer drains. Could it be one of them? There—that trash on the ground—is it the same? No. I pulled out my extra trash bag and picked it up anyway. After that, I figured it was a one-time, random occurrence.

The next photo came on July 14th at 2:57am. Seriously? Not from the same number. Not trash this time. A kitten crouched under a car. As soon as it was light, I left the dogs at home and walked around the neighborhood looking for a tan car. I’m terrible at models and styles and all that. It was a Cadillac. The kitten was pressed against the front passenger tire, and as soon as I crouched down and reached out a hand to it, it crept across the driveway and into my lap. I named her Caddy.

So I called the first number. But it wasn’t in service. Called the second number. Ditto. Since then, I’ve received a photo text about every one to two weeks. If I’m awake when it comes in, I still can’t call fast enough to catch them. “Beeep. The number you have reached is not in service at this time.”

And every time, no matter how insignificant it may seem, I find the original of the photo the following day…

Dogs in house:
Houdini, Brindle


Time writing
20 minutes


July word count
3,235


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