On Tuesday last week, my brother Ben was driving by the mall and got a hankering for Chick-fil-a. So he parked and went in, only to realize that Chick-fil-a was on the other side of the mall. But the Verizon store was right there, so he went in to see about getting some equipment for his phone. Which they didn’t have, but the salesman talked Ben into taking home two new phones.

What does a boy do with two new mobile phones? He gives one of them to his mother…who, mind you, already has a perfectly good phone of her own. Mom called us on her new phone that evening…before nine because it’s Verizon and it’s free. Mom had been thinking about switching to Verizon anyway. They have the best service, and she can talk to us unlimitedly. “Plus,” she added, “we could add you to our plan if you ever need to.” So she decided to use it for the two week risk-free trial. She put Dad on the phone with me, who said something about Ben getting suckered. What does a boy do with two new mobile phones?

The next evening, we discovered our phone service was cancelled.

Berck sent an e-mail to Mom and Ben. Mom overnighted one of the phones to us that morning. You can’t get service much faster than that.

Since Verizon doesn’t have any stores in Oklahoma, Berck mailed his phone to Ben, who is going to get it switched over to his account. And we’ll have 251 area codes, so anyone in Mobile can call us for free.

But only on weekends and nights after nine, of course.