May 13, Pay Phone

© 2010 Susannah Storch

Look what I noticed this morning! When was the last time you used one of those?

In elementary school, I remember heading down to the local Super Fresh grocery store (did anyone else hang out at grocery store shopping centers as a kid?!) with Sharita, and checking the phones for spare quarters in hopes of finding enough change to buy a candy bar in Rite Aid. In middle school, I remember calling people from the mall pay phones, which someone decided should be installed way down some long white isolated dirty corridor. I remember using them all the time in Europe to call home with calling cards. Come to think of it, the last time I used one was actually a year and a half ago with Sharita (again), in a dingy, tucked away hallway at a shopping mall in Bangalore.