Hard luck

The following morning as usual, The Chase family arrived with home cooked breakfast and fruits. Walking into the room, they found the conscious Atlas sitting on the bed in his hospital gown. His eyes were trained on the window.

Hearing the door opening, he turned his head to look and seeing the number of people walking in, he focused his attention on them. He plastered a tiny smile on his face.

" My baby!" Mrs Chase dropped the plastic bag which contained fruits on the floor. She hurried to the bed with open arms.

Sitting on the bed next to Atlas, the elderly woman pulled his hands into hers as she inspected his face attentively. Her neither rough nor smooth palms went on to caress Atlas's face lovingly.

" How are you feeling?" She asked as she eyed Atlas's chapped and pale lips.

" Better." Atlas's response came as a one word reply. He then turned his head and attention to the other figure present in the room.

" When did you come back?" He asked Mr Chase who had made himself comfortable on the couch.

" Two days ago. Your mother told me about you but was stuck someplace else." Mr Chase replied in smooth tone. He was a man of few words. Though he appeared youthful and his hair was still black, he was in his late fifties. With every chance he got, he would go on a vacation either with his friends, alone or with his wife.

" Rex and Molly went back yesterday. He couldn't be

away from the clinic for too long. The doctor here already gave us the discharge papers to sign. You will be going home today." Seeing Atlas looking around, Mrs Chase stated.

" Oh." He gave a short reply and the room was enveloped in silence.

" Let's stop by the cemetery on our way home." A while later, Atlas spoke again.

The Chase couple could detect that Atlas's mood was down, therefore they tried to come up with various topics to lighten the mood which worked to a certain degree.

" Have something to eat first, and rest for a bit. We shall leave after." Said Mrs Chase as she unpacked the tupperware containers which had breakfast inside.

After having his breakfast, Atlas laid on the bed with his eyes closed. Laying there, he could sense the tense atmosphere within the room and the occasional sighs from his mother.

Time quickly ticked by and it was soon afternoon. Atlas stepped out of the hospital bathroom in a new set of clothes. He had a grey sweat shirt on paired with black ripped jeans. As compared to earlier, he appeared more handsome and simple in this gear.

He lifted the small brown canvas travelling bag which had his belongings from the bed and walked out of the room. His parents were already waiting for him by the chairs in the hallway.

*****

In a small scale apartment, classical music was playing from the stereo speakers. Sitting cross legged on the fur floor mat, Dada was enjoying a cup of coffee.

Her wavy hair was braided into a single french braid. Dressed in a mini denim dress, she appeared carefree and more youthful. With a laptop resting on her thighs, she typed away at a fascinating speed. Her eyes would occasionally look up and glance out through the window.

"""""" When a man lov..."""""

She sang along to the song as she bobbed her head sideways.

Her phone rang at that exact moment making her discontinue singing. A private number appeared on the phone screen. Not knowing who the caller was, Dada contemplated on whether to answer the call or not. She took the remote control nearby and pressed the pause button before picking up the phone reluctantly.

" Hello?" With a meek tone, she said quickly after answering the call.

" Good afternoon ma'am. I am calling from Multicom, and we have a promotional event currently going on." A female voice rang through the phone speaker.

Dada took another glance at her mobile screen. This was a private number.

" Multicom? What promotion?" Still in a meek tone, she asked.

" Yes ma'am. Our company is giving away cash prizes to a number of lucky customers, and your mobile number was selected among thousands and were lucky enough to be picked for this promotion. I will be asking you a few questions related to your experience with our company. Shall we continue?" The woman asked.

Dada could hear faint car horn noises on the background coming through the speaker. She frowned before snickering silently. She had received similar calls previously and were from different numbers, some were even international calls.

" Let's continue." Playing along, Dada said unto the phone. She wanted to hear the lies that 'Multicom' had prepared for her.

The woman on the phone took a moment before speaking again.

" Before we proceed, I would like you to provide us with your names, address and banking detai..."

" Banking details?"

" Yes ma'am. We need your bank account details and your log in details so we could transfer the money to your account as soon as possible." Without any sense of hesitation the woman spoke.

Dada let out a chuckle hearing these ridiculous words. Who doesn't know that all they wanted to do was to sweep her account clean after she provides her bank information. Such scammers were quite common and many grannies in her neighbourhood have fallen victim to such tricks.

" Why would you gift me cash when I didn't enter into any competition."

" Well, as I already said ma'am, this is a lucky draw and only those lucky were selected."

" Then, why call me using a private number? Why would a big company like yours hide your number when reaching out to their customers instead of using landlines?" With a raised voice, Dada questioned the woman.

Not knowing how to answer to the question, the other woman on the phone kept quite before mumbling incoherently.

" Ma'am..."

" Don't ma'am me. I would rather believe in the existence of a flying cow than believe in your scams. And the other thing, you should be having my personal details if you called from Multicom. Just like everyone out there, I already provided those when I registered my SIM card. Do you think that am that gullible to provide my bank information so you later feast on my earnings. Please think through and revise your script before you try your silly dirty tric..."

The call was disconnected before she could finish. She chuckled before placing her mobile phone away.

Did these scammers think she was a naive and ignorant individual. Why would Multicom call her using a private number? That was a well known telecommunications company in the whole country with a large market base, why would they resort to such petty actions.

Hard luck.