The call came in a little after midnight.  Unsurprisingly, I was not there to answer it.  When I learned of the call this morning, I tried to see who it was.  Caller ID worked perfectly, but the caller’s identification was anonymous.  The caller made a choice to conceal her identity.  It worked.

The call was made after she, as the caller was clearly a woman, had received her midnight call, that her father, son, husband, baby daddy, was busted.  She was frantic.  To the extent I could understand what she was saying, the arrest was very serious and there were a number of charges.  What those charges might be, I couldn’t say.  The explanation, to the extent I could understand it, was offered in that obtuse fashion of someone trying to say something without actually saying anything. 

Was it a murder?  A drug deal?  A bribe of a foreign official?  Beats me.  All I know is that she was talking very fast and very scared.  She knew she wouldn’t reach me after midnight, and asked that I call her back first thing in the morning.  It was urgent.  Please call back.  We’re depending on you.

And I can’t.

True, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the moment, making it difficult to appear for an arraignment today, unless the arraignment is happening in Milwaukee, Wisonsin.  It could be, since she didn’t mention where in the world this arrest took place.  Phones are like magic, and can reach distant places.  I get calls from all over the country.  “Do you do DUIs in Phoenix?”  No, not really.

But the reason I can’t return her call is that I don’t know her name or number.  She was calling me on a cellphone.  She was fading in and out, in and out, the whole time.  I could barely make sense of the message to the extent I could understand it, but I can piece together some of the thoughts she tried to express.  What I can’t piece together is the name and telephone number.  You need all the digits to make a successful phone call.

I don’t know whether she was using 3G or 4G or no G.  I can’t tell if it was some glitch caused by traveling between cell sites or walking around a room with thick plaster walls.  I dunno.  I also don’t know how to reach her.

This morning, there is a woman who is waiting for me to call her back.  Her midnight call to me was made in desperation, and I hate the idea that I’m leaving her hanging, or that she will think that I don’t care enough to return her call.  I do.  Whether this is a case I would take, I can’t say, but at the very least I would call her back and, if not right for me, steer her to someone who could help her.

Instead, she will hear nothing from me this morning because I don’t know how to reach her.

If you call on a cellphone and leave a message, you must recognize that there is a very real chance that the message will be garbled and that the other person will not be able to understand or hear what you’re saying.  And if you elect to be anonymous on your cellphone, such that your number does not appear on caller ID, and I can completely understand why someone would make that choice as we don’t want people bothering us on cellphones, please realize that it means your number will not appear to your caller even when you really want them to call back.

Technology is a wonderful thing.  It’s not a perfect thing.  If something really important has happened and you really need to speak with somebody, be aware that a call from your cellphone may be not be sufficient.  Best of luck today, whoever the woman who called me is, and whoever the person she was calling about is.  I’m sorry I didn’t call you back.  I really am.