Off the I-15

At the Desert Dispatch, I listen to a lot of hold music and leave a lot of messages on answering machines. Sometimes I get through; sometimes people call us back. And although the usual, “leave a message after the beep” recording often frustrates me, especially when deadline approaches, some leave me wondering…

Calling the North Pole

I am working on a story about people injured by unexploded military ordnances. About a week ago, a private investigator from the Victorville area called me with the story of a local woman who had survived an explosion a few months ago. He left me his number.

When I called him today, I got the answering machine of Santa at the North Pole. According to the recording, Santa wasn’t in because he was out in the snow with the reindeer. Mind you, it was 100-plus degrees in Barstow, and there was no snow in sight. Snow in Victorville in the middle of July seemed just as unlikely as the possibility that I actually stumbled across Santa’s number and it had a 760 area code.

Worried I copied the number wrong and that my story was doomed, I called around trying to confirm his number. Yep, that number I had matched what others involved with the case had. Finally, one person asked me if I had gotten the investigator’s voice mail.

“Yes,” I said.

“Was it Santa’s?” she asked.

Apparently, the investigator looks a lot like Santa and recorded his message likewise.

— Aaron Aupperlee