Phone Call for a Spirit

Phone call at work.
Unsettling, dismaying.
An unknown voice asks
"How is your mother?"

Confused.
Bewildered.
Perplexed.
Mystified.

Staring at the phone
Groping for coherent words.
"Who is calling?" though I already know.

Follow-up phone calls
on discharged patients.
Records incomplete.

"Don't you know my

mother died the day before

her discharge to hospice?"

Embarrassment and regret.

Sympathy for the caller.

She couldn't have known.

She should have known.

She should have been told.

Sparing us both

Confusion

Regret