El teléfono en la biblioteca

The library is very quiet. A woman is reading a book at a table near the window. Suddenly, her phone starts to buzz inside her bag.

The buzzing sounds very loud in the silence. The woman looks at her bag nervously, but she does not open it. The phone keeps buzzing.

Little by little, all the readers look up. A student stops writing. A woman closes her book. Even a child looks at the woman from another table.

The woman whispers:

“Sorry.”

She looks for the phone among her things, but she cannot find it. The bag buzzes again. Now the librarian walks toward her and points to the door.

At last, the woman finds the phone. Her mother’s name appears on the screen. She looks at the librarian and then at all the readers. The phone keeps buzzing in her hand, and she still does not know whether to answer or go outside.

The woman takes a deep breath and leaves the library. Near the door, she finally answers.

“Hello, Mom. Is something wrong?”

“No, dear. I just wanted to ask you something,” her mother replies.

The woman looks inside. All the readers have lowered their heads again. The librarian returns to her desk.

“I’m in the library. I’m speaking quietly,” the woman says.

Her mother asks a question, but the woman cannot hear her well. There is a little noise in the street. She moves closer to the door and says:

“Can you repeat that?”

At that moment, the phone buzzes again. The woman looks at the screen. Now another name appears: her brother’s.

Her mother is still talking, and the woman’s phone keeps buzzing. The child looks at her again from his table.

The woman does not know whether to keep talking to her mother or answer her brother.

The woman says to her mother:

“Mom, just a moment. My brother is calling me.”

She presses a button and answers the other call.

“Hello, what’s up?”

“Nothing,” her brother says. “Mom wants to know if you’re having dinner with us tonight.”

The woman looks at the child, who is still beside his table. She also sees the librarian, waiting for her near the door.

“Yes, I’m having dinner with you,” she replies. “I’m in the library now. I’ll call you later.”

She hangs up and speaks to her mother again.

“Mom, I’m having dinner with you. I’ll call you when I leave.”

“All right, dear,” her mother says. “See you later.”

“See you later.”

The woman puts the phone in her bag and goes back into the library. She walks over to the librarian and whispers:

“I’m very sorry. It’s off now.”

The librarian smiles. The woman returns to her table and opens her book. Little by little, everyone goes back to reading in silence.