"I felt a burst of exhilarating joy the day I walked into my first apartment and saw that there was already a telephone installed. My joy was based on the knowledge that once a phone has been installed, it only takes a flick of a switch somewhere to connect it.

The clerk at the window seemed to be running about a quart low.

"Name?" I told her.

"Address?" I told her.

"Phone number?" she asked.

"I don't have a phone number," I replied, as patiently as possible. "That's why I'm here." She handed me a card with my new number on it.

"When will it be connected?"

"Next opening will be in five days."

"Five days? But I thought…"

"A serviceman will have to reconnect your line at the pole. But don't worry about having to meet him, since we won't need to enter the apartment."

I waited patiently for five days. Then I raced home from work with a list of people to call.

But, on the doorknob was the telltale note.

"Sorry we missed you."

I tried to control my hostility when I called the next morning. I gave the clerk my address and told her about the note.

"Why did a serviceman come by?" she asked.

"Why, I really don't know," I said.

"Well, we can't help you at this number. You'll have to call repair service." Click. I called the repair service. My last chance.

"Our records show it was connected yesterday," they said.

"Well, I'm not getting a dial tone."

"There must be some trouble on the line. We'll send a serviceman out in three days."

When the day of reckoning arrived, I waited and waited. There was no sign of a serviceman for 45 minutes. Finally, the phone rang. What??

"Sir, we checked our records. You didn't need to have a serviceman come out. You just had to have your line reconnected." My first call was to Dial-A-Prayer.

Chuck Myer is under hospice care for brain tumors. You can purchase his 2008 book, "Malignant Melodrama." This insightful and humorous tome springs from his desire to help others who face daunting challenges. It's available at www.lulu.com, BookSmart and Barnes & Noble.

Kat Teraji Kat Teraji is communications coordinator for a large non-profit organization that benefits women and children. Her column appears every Thursday in the Take 2 section of the Dispatch. You can reach her at kattoy@verizon.net.