Written in response to...
A reader prompt #2
Shark bait
I knew I shouldn’t have sent that text because the next thing I knew, a call came in the middle of the night. Usually I kept my phone on silent. Not that I got calls, you understand, but I like my sleep, doesn’t everyone?
It was the text that did it, luring me in with it’s reference to work, telling me I’d been scammed and offering me the chance to avoid having to face my boss to tell her I was the one that let the scammer in.
So I did what everyone says I shouldn’t, I called them back. God knows what time it was in Uganda or Nigeria or Kiev or Latvia or wherever they were sending their texts from. Yes, I called them back.
‘Hello?’
The voice was deep and distinctly European, and incredibly sexy.
‘You called me,’ I said.
The silence on the end of the line told me all I needed to know. I’d hooked them in. I sat up straighter in my chair, all this because of the text and now I’d got my own back. Too smug, I knew, deep down I was too cocky, too confident but this felt good, getting my own back, revenge on behalf of all the people who’d been scammed.
‘What is your name?’
I smiled. A cooling breeze wafted in through the open window where the golden light from the setting sun sifted light over my messy room. I really should tidy up but then I shook my head. Who for? There was no one to please but me. Maybe that’s why I answered the message.
‘Mary,’ I said. What would be the harm in telling him my name? ‘And you?’
‘Dion. You have a lovely voice, Mary.’
I sank into my seat, my heart fluttering because of the way he curled his mouth around the ‘r’, stretching out the syllables until I was breathless.
‘Thank you.’
‘Where do you live, Mary?’
‘In Australia,’ I told him, thinking I wouldn’t be giving too much away.
‘Australia?’ Dion said, his voice questioning. I imagined him in a cold room with snow falling outside, his eyes lifted to the ceiling as if he seeking an Australian sun of his own, picturing an ocean of blue and surf lines below his apartment window. For me, it wasn’t imagination, this was my view. I smiled.
‘It’s my dream to come to Australia,’ he continued. ‘I like surfing but not sharks.’
I laughed, hoping he enjoyed it’s tinkling strains.
‘You should come,’ I said. ‘I could take you surfing. In Bondi where I live, you don’t have to worry about being eaten by sharks because they have a siren that tells you when there’s a shark in the water.’
‘A siren,’ it was Dion’s turn to laugh.
‘The lifeguards are famous. They have their own TV show.’
‘I think I would like to come to Australia,’ said Dion.
My heart was racing. This was almost too good to be true, that Dion should want to visit me. I hated to admit it to anyone, but life was lonely and I longed to find someone to share my good fortune with. Was it so bad I didn’t know this stranger? He sounded kind.
‘I could help you,’ I said. Should it be this easy?
‘You don’t need to do that.’
‘I know how tough things are. The world’s a hard place. I’ve had some good fortune recently and I want to share it with others. How about you send me your details and I’ll take care of the tickets?’
‘Mary, that would be amazing. You are so kind, the kindest person in the world.’
We hung up. I took off my headphones and put the computers to sleep then I got out of my chair and stretched. I made a cup of coffee and took it out onto the balcony where the sun sent the Pacific Ocean sparkling. Down below, the Bondi Lifeguards were packing up for the day. I took a sip of coffee and closed my eyes and smiled.
No wonder my boss liked me. I was good at this, damn good. Maybe I shouldn’t have answered that text but after Dion’s passport details came through, as well as €500, I was set. There were many IDs I could make now and I knew my boss would be happy. This was as good a scam as I could think of and a brilliant way to live the life I wanted.
Further out to sea, the sharks were swimming but so far, no one had seen them.