A Light on in Chicago

*Ring*

*Ring*

*Ring*

Why is it always as soon as you get to sleep that the telephone rings? Scout had just settled into a well-deserved winter nap when her cell phone – she didn’t own a land line – started singing the old-fashioned tone she used for unknown numbers. She groggily reached for the gadget just in time to pick up before her voicemail did.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Harper Cathcart?” a man’s voice asked her.

“This is she,” was all she could say in reply before he was cutting her off, speaking rather quickly.

“We-, that is, Fall Out Boy would like to inform you that your entry into The Gold Standard Contest made it to the finalists’ round, and you were selected as the winner,” the man told her.

Scout was wide awake pacing her bedroom by now. “Wait, who is this? Is this some kind of joke? Don’t kid with me, mister. That contest is not a joke to me. How did you get this number? Don’t mess with me man. You do not want to do that. What is your problem?” she ranted for a while at the man at the opposite of the phone.

“Hey! Hey! Calm down! I’m perfectly serious. My name is Patrick; I sing for Fall Out Boy and I wanted to tell you myself that you had won our contest. No joke. We all loved you song – the whole production was original and well done. Sorry for scaring you like that. Geez, I didn’t think you’d be so angry for winning.”

Patrick congratulated himself internally at his own joke for a second, and then slowly noticed there was no sound coming from the woman on the other line.

“Hello?” No response. “Um… Harper?”

“Scout. It’s Scout. I don’t like Harper. Never have, but now Disney’s taken it over. Not cool.” Scout finally snapped out of her stunned silence from her new resting place on the bedroom floorboards and replied to the worried singer.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize it offended you that much.” He apologized almost as quickly as he had begun his little speech, but in a much more ashamed and careful voice this time.

“It’s alright. I’m just awful at dealing with surprises, and if this doesn’t count as one, nothing should. I put quite a bit of work into that video, and in hindsight it seemed pretty dumb when I realized I probably wasn’t going to win. But you don’t want to hear about that. Let’s talk business. When, where, how? We both know the ‘who and what’ part.” Then she laughed a little nervously. It was slightly obnoxious but endearing, lasting for only a few guffaws before she quieted for an answer to her inquiries.

He chuckled back quickly before saying, “Well, we mailed your information and plane ticket out this morning, so you should be getting that in a few days. You fly out of O’Hare to LAX in two weeks and we’ll pick you up there. I’m warning you though, with the band, hijinx will ensue. Think you’re up to it?”

“I do believe that was a challenge. Well, Mister Patrick, hijinx I can handle. You should be preparing yourself. I’ll see you in two weeks. Don’t be afraid to ring me up before then though. I should start getting arrangements made…. Talk to you later then, Patrick! Bye!”

In her traveling anticipation, she had hung up before he could say goodbye to her.