Ripples 5 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

05 Opening Move

She put the emptied chipped mug, in the tiny sink.

A quick turn of the tap, a quick swish and the mug was set on a towel to dry.

Washing the mug was easy.
Finding the owner of the phone still eluded her.

Returning to the table, she picked up the phone and examined it again. A rubbery protective cover enclosed most of the phone. She looked carefully at the cover and began to pull at a corner. Pulling here and there along the edges, twisting the phone as she went, she worked at loosening it. She worried that she might damage the phone trying to get the cover off. Still, she thought, if the cover had been put on, then the cover could come off.

With nervous fingers she worked the cover over the edges of the phone. It seemed as if the cover resisted her attempts but like a reluctant jar lid, once the vacuum seal was broken, the cover slipped easily into one hand, the phone in the other.

Something fell on the table.

It was small. Tiny. The red and black color nearly lost on the surface of the worn table. Not even as big as a postage stamp.

She wondered, how many still remembered postal stamps.