Return/Another One?

Day 27

   I have returned! More importantly for you however, I have also started following my tasks again. I started right where I left off- day 27. 

   Despite its humor, I groaned as I turned to today's task- another prank call. While I enjoy a well thought out and executed prank call now and again, this is my third one in just over a month, and it seems a bit excessive. Isn't it time to give the people of America a break for a while? And when I say America, I mean it- or at least the United States part of it. I have now prank called each coast, as well as the middle of the US. 

   I chose California for two reasons. First because it's in a different time zone, and it was already a quarter past ten when I began, and secondly because it's very big population wise, which makes it less likely that I will end up calling someone I know (It's like a 5 in 36,961,664 chance). I searched for the California phone book on google, and picked Oakland as a more specific place, because my good friend lives there (which I guess defeats much of the purpose of choosing California in the first place). After I got the area code for that region, I realized I could have just looked up my friend's phone number on my phone. 

   The website I was on was very helpful. It even gave me the "top prefixes" in use, and the "most popular numbers searched," which greatly increased my chances of actually getting a person. The book did say to dial a random number, but I felt like I should get some idea of an area code. I randomized the last four digits of the phone number, and got someone on the first try. 

   At this point I was already feeling rather bad about prank-calling a random family. I think it was a child who answered- the connection was bad, so I couldn't hear very well. It took him about five minutes of phone-to-the-chest conversation before he managed to connect me with someone whose voice sounded like it belonged to the father. They were definitely speaking another language (not spanish), which only helped with the image in my mind of a poor immigrant family trying to enjoy dinner- a rare time when all of them gathered together after a long day's work. I was, of course, the antagonist in any story I concocted around this family, breaking apart their time together, and shattering their joy with my heartless humor.

   I looked down at the book in my lap, and as directed, proceeded to read the script in a deep southern accent. I couldn't decide whether it was disturbing or boring- it was basically a lot of hardcore evangelical christian text. Religion, especially when stating one's opinion about it on the world wide web, is a touchy subject. I don't have anything against religion overall. Well actually, I am against how it has been (and is being) used in some cases, and I certainly have qualms with the way many sects of all types of religions are operating, but I think religion has also done plenty of good in the world. However it is hard for me to be open to the more hardcore religious beliefs- beliefs which this script embodied rather thoroughly. 

   Despite my apprehension about it, I began to read the tiny words in front of me, wishing he would hang up before I had a chance to read too much. Really wishing that he didn't agree with everything I was saying. It seems though, that despite what I was doing, the universe was on my side, and as i neared the end of the first paragraph, I heard the little "beep-boop" that signified the call had been terminated. Thank god I thought ironically.