Is Mike Home? Part one

For the next few days I will be posting an old narrative I had to write for college. I will break it up into sections so you won't be bored to death. I am going to attempt to have a garage sale soon and this will let me get a break from blogging to work.

I don't claim to be a writer by any means but I did get an "A" on it. I, of course, will be changing names of places and people for my own privacy. Some names will be changed just to hold down confusion as some names were too similar.

Is Mike Home?

I had not seen my father in seven years so the night I received the phone call asking if he had passed away came unexpectedly. I was watching some no name magician on TV when the phone rang. A man, by the name of Charlie, asked if I knew Mike Thompson. I explained my father's name is Stephen Michael Thompson but he had gone by Mike as a child. Expecting Charlie to be one of many solicitors or another bill collector looking for my father I irritably asked what it was he needed. He began to explain to me that he was a friend of a friend looking for Mike because they had heard he passed away. Dread flew into my heart and many questions entered my mind and yet Charlie kept speaking. He wanted to know if my father had ever been to California. More fear tightened my throat as I tried to answer his question. My voice quivered as I answered yes. Stephen spent his basic training there in the sixties. Charlie asked more questions and I answered as many as I could. There were so many questions I wanted to ask but he wouldn't have the answers. We ended our conversation, neither one of us satisfied wit the outcome. He was still uncertain if my Mike was the right man and I was left wondering if my father was alive.