Strange call

In Paul Auster’s books (see here) the characters often get strange phonecalls or strange letters in the mail. Last night I got a very strange phonecall. It was around 21.30 and I was slightly drowsy when the phone rang. I wondered who it could be since people rarely call after 21. I picked up the receiver and answered with my name as I usually do: “Peter.”

There was a silence at the other end, and then a woman said to me: “Why don’t you sing to me?” The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Who was this, and why should I sing to her? I thought. Then I thought that it might be a joke, but I asked, “Why would I sing to you?”

Another pause. “Who is this?” she asked.

“Who are you seeking?”

“Which number is this?”

Somehow I didn’t want to leave my number, so I asked, “Which number did you dial?” She read the number and she had gotten the second digit wrong, an 8 instead of a 3. Otherwise, it was the same number. I told her this.

“Oh, I thought you were my brother Peter,” she said.

Apparantly it was her birthday, and her brother hadn’t called to congratulate her, so probably she had called to confront him and because I answered with my name, she thought I was him.

The fact that I thought it was someone I know, and that this someone was playing a joke on me, I did have an urge to play along. But since I couldn’t place the person, and because she seemed so convinced she had called the right number, I got very confused and thought I perhaps had lost my mind. Very Twilight Zone.