I don't want to trouble the phone company

By Angelo

I have had this phone a good portion of my life. It still works. It says Bell System Property on it, so it’s not really mine. It still rings. No redial though. I have rented the phone for $3 per month since February of ’74 from Western Electric/AT & T. They sent me the bill and I sent in my payment. No problems. Then they called me in the 1990s to ask me return the phone because it costs them more in operating costs to bill me for the phone than $3. They also said I was the last man on Earth still renting the phone from them and that the phone had almost cost me $1,000 over the years.. I said no,but thank you. I said I didn’t want any trouble. I don’t want to trouble the phone company. They have enough to worry about with phone lines, switchboards, and people calling the operator(Dial ‘0’). I had also gotten attached to this phone. I had a lot of memories with this phone. I spoke to my wife after our wedding day as she ran off to Paris with another man. I spoke to my son in a muffed voice when he went AWOL from the Army. I even got the news of my father’s death on this phone. So, it’s important to me. I haven’t gotten a bill recently, so I’m nervous. I called AT & T, but they no longer exist. I decided to send them what I think I owe them. I found an old bill and sent it to that address. I hope there are no problems. The phone still works but I am afraid someone is going to come for me or it. I feel like I am stealing the phone and somebody is watching me. I saw a phone worker on the pole the other day and ran back inside. I figured they bugged my phone. So, I don’t use it anymore. I just let it ring.