Avoiding the phone

The ringing phone makes my heart sink. Inevitably it is going to be one of the following: a taped message from a democratic candidates, or, worse, a live voice asking if I needed a ride to my polling place (what demographic list are we on anyway?? I am NOT a member of AARP!), or, inevitably, my mother asking if I voted for Dean. Only the first on this list of possibilities is not a strain. I feel terribly guilty when Kerry’s or Dean’s loyal campaign staffer offers me a ride because I have to say that I have already voted and then there is this dead silence as s/he comes to understand that I did not vote for their guy. I wish someone from Edwards’ office would call (they have not today, which is wise on their part – they read my blog yesterday, waited til midnight, and knew that they had my vote), so that I could be jubilant and say YES! I was with you all the way (or at least all the way this week)!

I would let the machine pick up the phone, but that just leads to confusion, because if it is a recorded message, then it is mangled by my prerecorded announcement and it is hard to understand who is calling or what they want. For instance, when I got back from work, I listened to something like this:

“... (beep) Bush. We need your support. Our country needs to move ahead with the economic plan that will give every American a chance at a good education, a decent job, and a safe world to live in.. blah blah.”

I really do not think I got a call from Bush. I am not on any mailing list that could have generated a Republican message, and anyway, to the best of my knowledge, GWB isn’t campaigning through grass roots phone calls at the moment. Too plebeian. But whoever left the recording did not anticipate that the first words would be cut. In denouncing Bush, they became Bush. What a warped twist of fate.