Alice didn't know

A few years ago I was hired on the spot at an evening interview. I left the office and ran across the street to call my parents from a payphone at a garage. There was no streetlight. My future was bright. I work elsewhere now. I avoid that part of the city. Even if someone does not believe in ghosts, its easy to feel like a place is haunted. The other night I had to return to the area. I passed the garage and remembered. The phone was there and it was off the hook. The handle hung still below. I had the urge to rip the chord out of the socket. I wanted to yell into the phone so that my past self could hear me and heed the advice. Instead, I hung it up. That call, that place, that job needs to be over. I have a cellphone now.