When the phone rang this morning I immediately jumped up to answer. After all, every phone call has potential. It might be a long lost friend looking to reconnect, a family member with fantastic news, a reporter wanting an interview about one of my books, or a producer interested in a script.
Okay, okay, I’ll admit it. Most of the calls I receive are sales calls and requests for donations. But let’s not focus on that. It’s best to push those sad disappointments out the the mind as quickly as possible.
Anyway, as I said, I answered the phone quickly, and with a chipper “Hello.”
“Veronica?”
“This is Veronica,” I answered, encouraged that the person on the other end of the line knew my name.
“This is Jessica from Readers Group-”
On hearing the words ‘Readers Group’ my heart soared, whirling and whooshing among the clouds. This had be about one of my books, most likely Gray Zone. Someone in this group, this Readers Group, had read Gray Zone and realized that it was perfect for-
“-and I’m calling because you are in the running for our grand lottery prize of $2 million. Congratulations!”
At those words my heart plummeted into a nosedive and crashed, SPLAT, on the ground as I recognized the start of the old you-won-the-lottery scam.
“But I haven’t entered any lotteries,” I interrupted before she could get too deep into her pitch.
“If you will just wait a minute and listen to what I have to say….”
So I paused politely to see what she would say.
“Or you can ignore me. That’s real adult.”
And she hung up the phone with a resounding CLICK.
So much for my attempt to be polite.
Does that mean I don’t get my $2 million?