“The job's done. Where do I dispose of it and come to get the money?” Radha said, trying to stop her uncontrollable fits of laughter.
“Stop giggling!” Suhani admonished, shushing her. Not a second passed before they started laughing again.
“Uh...hello, who is this?” The man on the other side of the call answered apprehensively. Laughing, they cut the call and decided to pester one more person before dozing off to sleep.
“The job is done. Where do I dispose of it and come to get the money?” The same classic prank was repeated, the same method of covering their mouths to conceal their laughter. But this time, to their surprise there was a reply other than some confused mumbling.
The person replied confidently, “Okay, come to Crawford Street at 4 with the package. Remember, don’t let the police see you.” A beep sounded in the empty silence that followed, signalling the end of the call.
Panic struck them. Who was this person? Was this real? Was he being serious? A package that the police shouldn’t see...what could that be? After 20 minutes of dread and anxiety and a lot of thinking, they finally came to a conclusion to tell their parents. What if this was an urgent matter? Now, this was a hard thing to do because they had been firmly instructed to not prank call anyone after what had happened the last time (that’s a story for another time). With remorse, they told their parents and after all the scolding and shoutings, a decision was made to call the police.
20 minutes later, sirens were to be heard and a few minutes later the police arrived. On hearing the incident, they weren’t very sure what to make of it. Was the person another prank caller? Was one of the things that troubled them. But they couldn’t take that risk. What if that person was genuinely a threat to society?
After collecting all the information and checking all the phone recordings, the police decided that it was best to go to the street and catch the obscure person red-handed - if there was anyone to catch.
Time passed by and it finally became four. All prepared, the policemen and their squads surrounded the area around Crawford and waited, and waited and waited.
Nobody came. Not a single soul passed by that place and soon it was nine. With an almost relieved heart, the policemen left. They were puzzled but more receptive to the idea that it was simply a prank call.
And at that particular moment, Radha got a message on her phone - from the person she considered her arch-nemesis, Priya.
She said, “Hi Radha, were you the person who ‘prank’ called yesterday? Your voice was pretty recognizable. Ha-ha good prank call, but I sure did get you, didn’t I?” Suffice it to say, none of their sleepovers ever included prank calls again.
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