Plucky Letters to US soldiers in Iraq

Friday, February 25, 2005

Dear Army Guys,

Just as I sat down to write to you, I got a very strange telephone call. It was the damnedest thing. It went exactly like this:

Phone: Ring! Ring!
Me: Hello?
Man on phone: Yeah, do you have a digital microscope camera?
Me: No. I have a digital camera, but not a microscope.
Man: Well this would be a device that can be hooked up to a computer so you can see the images on the screen.
Me: Oh. I haven’t got one of those. Are you looking to sell one of these things, or buy one?
Man: I want to buy one.
Me: So, are you just calling people up at random and asking if they’ve got one for sale?
Man: Yeah, that seems like about the only way I’ll find a used one! (heh heh heh)
Me: You’re really just going through the phone book and calling people?
Man: Yeah. I’m from Minonk, by the way.
Me: Well, maybe it would be easier just to go on ebay. Just get online and go to ebay and type in what you’re looking for.
Man: Well, that sounds like a good idea.
Me: Good luck then.
Man: Thanks. Goodbye.
Me: Goodbye.

What the heck was that? I find it very difficult to believe this man from Minonk is actually calling people at random hoping somebody will say, “Why yes, as a matter of fact I have an Apex 4250 I’m looking to unload!”

I figured he must have been answering an ad in the classified section of the Pantagraph and misdialed. But I just checked every relevant classified section and there is no ad for a digital microscope camera! I couldn’t resist doing that *69 thing with the phone to get his number.

I’m tempted to call him back and ask if he has a food dehydrator I can buy. (I really do want one of those.) Now I keep looking at the phone and wondering, “What the heck was that?”

Much Love,

--An Army Mom