stedmo
Phoenix, AZ
age: 51
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Couple years ago my phone was ringing. I was napping and for the life of me I couldn’t rouse myself up to answer it. The person was leaving a message, and it was from an old friend (Utah Fred). He didn’t normally call & I had no quick way of contacting him. The message sounded vaguely urgent concerning another friend (Richard). When I did wake myself, a few minutes too late, to get the message off the machine, there was none. O.K. But it sort of concerned me and I even told a couple people about the occurrence.
So a few weeks later I decided to go visit Richard & see if all was fine with Utah Fred. I’m knocking a Richard’s door and there is no answer. In the meantime a car pulls up and asks if Richard is home? I say no and introduce myself. She tells me that she is Marco---don’t forget that name---Ogle, sister. (A mutual friend of mine, Richard and Utah Fred’s).
“How’s Marco,”? I ask . “He died in China a few months ago”, was her reply. Wow! I was really taken aback and gave my condolences! She was there to thank Richard for the assistance he a had provided during this time of stress and was leaving that day to go back to Michigan.
We both left a note on the door for Richard to contact us. It bothered me that Richard hadn’t called me to let me know that Marco had died. But we had been growing sort of distant the last few years. Couple days later, actually on Halloween night, I have a message on my machine from Richard’s brother informing me that Richard had passed away a month earlier! This really did number on me! Messing with my psychology. Richard and I went way back. Well the brother didn’t leave a return number & besides Utah Fred, there was no other resource for me to get any real information. So I started a search calling people in Utah who shared Fred’s last name to see if they were related and, perhaps, get a contact number. No success.
I then made other phone calls & by chance contacted Marco’s wife. She didn’t know me, actually she was from China, but she was glad to talk with someone that personally knew Marco. She knew of Richard & Utah Fred but only superficially. I could tell that she didn’t know of Richard’s passing and, trying to be respectful and not to abrupt on a initial phone call, asked if she would like to meet. We agreed to a specific time and place a week off.
So going to visit this woman, I drive by Richard’s on the chance that maybe, someone, might be around to get some info. Well a couple of dudes are in Richard’s van. I walk up & introduce myself. The person is Richard’s son and he’s there to take the van back to Utah if they can get it running. They needed a ride to the auto parts store which I supplied. The son fills me in on Terry’s passing. What little I could gather from him it was none to pleasant. They didn’t find the body for over 6 weeks in the house! Geeezzz! So then I asked about Utah Fred. I was told he died a few months earlier… right around time of the phone call! Well I almost drove off the road! Actually I did. Got out & yelled!
I then went met this lady from China which spoke very poor English or I spoke very poor Cantonese. I tried to comfort her in the loss of her husband, being the only person that she had contact with that knew personally of him. Then I had to tell her of the other news. Well there were tears and it was just too much. I kept in some contact with her but eventually lost touch. Perhaps she went back to China.
I just don’t want any more phantom phone calls or freak chance meetings.
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