Direct line above?

The First Phone Call from Heaven
Mitch Albom (2013)

I picked up this book during a long wait at the airport. You fly low-cost, your time is also low-cost (cheap), and they expect you to come early and wait. After reading all his books thus far, it is only natural for me to lay my hand at once. His books deal mainly with important things in life like death, heaven and Godly matters.

This time around, too, he dwells on 'life' after death and incorporates Alexander Graham Bell's invention, the telephone, as the means to receive a call from the heavenly world!

Interestingly, we learn a few snippets here and there about Bell's journey to his invention, which is still being contested by the original discoverer. His invention almost did not make it to the forefront, thanks to the Brazilian King who worked with Bell and the hearing impaired, who insisted that his device be seen.

Despite all the hurdles, it has stood the test of time. In fact, in its infancy, there were suggestions that it could be used to communicate with the departed on the other side of the world.

Bell must have never dreamt, even in his wildest dreams, of the hassles that modern man would face with his invention. For one thing, his wife was hearing impaired, and his device was not mobile.

8 occupants of a small town, Coldwater, Michigan, started receiving calls from the dearly departed ones from heaven, sending the whole town into a tailspin. A usually quiet town becomes abuzz with activities. Out-of-towners started moving in to witness this phenomenon. TV crew move in to capture this news as if they are genuinely interested in helping. Only deep inside, there are there for personal glory and to stir a hornet's nest when there is no trouble. Real estate prices go north. Sales of the particular brand of Samsung model of phone soar. Revenue to the local council boom, business at the local deli skyrockets! Even the congregation at the local church overflows, and the church helpers are stretched thin.

Of course, the naysayers were out in droves to prove the hoax. The excitement proved too much to handle. In short, with the heavenly calls, all hell breaks loose in this usually quiet town.

Not all recipients of the calls are happy. One contractor receives a call from a disgruntled employee who blames his death to his uncaring employer.

In the midst of this, Sullivan Harding, a former Air Force pilot, walks out of prison after serving time for crashing his plane allegedly for misguided orders from communication towers. The recordings, however, went missing, and his toxicology showed impermissible alcohol levels. His wife and the said technician who gave orders were involved in a tragic accident, sending Sullivan and his son's life into a mess.

As the kerfuffle reaches its zenith and Sullivan's young son starts carrying a mobile phone to receive a call from his dead mother, Sulivan decides to put a lid on giving false hope. He uses his connections working in the town newspaper company to get to the bottom of the problem.

With modern technologies, talk is cheap, and we tend to take it for granted. It is only when communication becomes impossible that we really appreciate and long for the little times we indulge in that tete-a-tete or that sweet nothing.

At the end of the day, in the story, there was a plausible explanation for all the calls (almost)- I do not want to be the party pooper!