Wrong Number

Informant: Male/ 15 years old/ Filipino Ancestry

Location: University of Hawaii at Hilo dorms, Big Island

This story actually comes from my uncle.

He was attending the university during the 70's and had just moved into the dorms. As a gift, his parents bought him a phone that he could plug into the phone jacks so he could keep in touch with family.

Within minutes of plugging his telephone into the jack, he got his first phone call.

"Hello? Is Jim there?" sobbed the woman on the other end of the line.

"No, sorry, you got the wrong number," my uncle replied. The woman cried for a bit, then hung up the phone.

Later on that night, my uncle got a phone call from that same woman. A woman crying and asking for Jim. The phone calls continued for at least once a day for the rest of the semester. My uncle pitied the woman, so he didn't really do anything about it. He would just pick up the phone and listen to her ask for Jim and then weep. He would then say "wrong number" and wait for her to hang up. A couple of times, he tried to talk to the woman and see if he could help her find the right number, but it was as if she didn't care for what he had to say. She only wanted to know if Jim was there.

Finally at the end of the semester, my uncle started to move out of the dorms. As he was emptying out the drawers from his desk, he noticed something was carved into the bottom of one them.

It was a big heart with words in the middle saying: "R.I.P Jim."