Tondeleo: Doc has finally gotten into the 1990's. Yes, I know that the 1990's are long over. For a long time, he refused to even have a phone. He'd had various pay as you go phones off and on, and according to him, there wasn't much worth paying to talk about, after you used your minutes to get a job.
Then, after all his friends and people who wanted him to play music at their BBQ's and outtings got on his case about it (He used to say, "If you want me to play so bad, then come by my house and ask me yourself."), he got a pager that someone loaned to him. They had a contract but didn't use it anymore and gave it to Doc until the contract ran out. With the pager, he had to go use a pay phone to call them back.
Recently, he discovered free cell phones, and found out from his friend Bruce that you didn't necessarily have to have money to have access to phone service. He and Marilyn went to La Plata and bought a couple of three dollar cell phones at Hooks And Hangers Thrift Shop. He was all smiles because now he feels modern, and he feels like he has beat the man.
Doc: Hey Tondy, I got me a cell phone. I aint never thought I'd get one again, but Bruce talked me into gettin my foot wet in the cell phone game. Bruce hooked me up with this idea. Out here where I am, we aint got no cell phone signal, so it aint worth getting a real cell phone.
But, when Marilyn goes out she needs to be able to make a call if she gets into trouble or my panel truck breaks down. She needs one of them cell phones, but aint neither one of us gots credit cards. She aint got nobody to call, but if she gets broke down she needs to be able to call that 911.
Here's what we been doin' out here. You can get a old cell phone at the thrift shop up in La Plata for three dollars and it comes with a charger, too.
All you gotta do is charge it up and carry it with you. You aint got a have a account to call the folks at 911. That's free. If you need a ambulance or a cop or you're sick, you got a free call. So that’s a pretty good deal for three bucks, where I come from.
You can use 'em to call collect, too. Marilyn calls Darla and Eddie down the road if she gots a message for me, and then I pay 'em back when the bill comes in.
If you got a credit card you can charge a call on a cell phone what you get from the thrift shop. Eddie done that a couple of times but he says it costs too much if you do it more than a couple minutes. I ain't never tried it. Don't got a credit card. I use cash.
