“Hold on just one minute, Bobby” she said, as he was sneaking his way to the door, hiding his swimsuit behind his back. “Where do you think you’re going?” cried Pat, jumping in front of her teenage son.

“Oh, I’m just going to my friend’s house to spend the night.”

With a shake of her finger and a knowing smile, Pat said, “I want you to call me by noon tomorrow.” She handed him a scrap of paper so he could write down the friend’s number. When he was gone, she attached the number to the refrigerator with the intention of taking it to work in the morning.

The following day at work, Pat anticipated a call from her son. But noon turned into 1:00pm, which rolled into 2:00pm, and still Bobby hadn’t called. She fished through her wallet to retrieve the friend’s number and then slapped her knee as she realized she had left it at home.

“Now what do I do?” Pat fretted. As a shot in the dark she phoned the number as best she was able to recall it.

After two rings, a man answered.

“Hello,” Pat said, timidly. “Is Bobby Brown there, by any chance?”

“Let’s see, Bobby Brown?” the man repeated slowly, as he was thinking.

“I don’t seem to recall any Bobby Brown having come by today,” he said.

The man inquired, “How old is Bobby?”

Pat looked at the phone, quizzically. What a strange question!

“How old?” She said. “Thirteen.” She wished she hadn’t answered, but something inside made her answer.

Four hours later, a coworker answered the telephone and handed it to Pat. “For you,” she said. Pat placed the receiver to her ear, and said, “HELLO!”. Much to her relief, it was Bobby. “Mom!” he cried, “how did you know to call me at the dentist’s office?”

Pat pulled herself up in her seat. “What are you talking about?” she laughed. Bobby explained. “Mom, my friend needed to have his braces removed, and asked me to go along with him. I said, ‘Why not?’ Then, when I stepped inside the office the dentist said: ‘Your mother is waiting for your call.’ I felt like a total klutz, putting you through all this when I should have called you at noon. Sorry.”

A wave of warm emotion enveloped Pat. She could not be angry with her son after receiving such a providential favor.

Pat had indeed dialed a “wrong number.” It just happened that the dentist was on a lunch break, and ordinarily would not be answering the phone, but this number rang on his private line.

He picked it up miraculously, and healed Pat instantly of her rising anxiety about the fate of her son.

This took place in Anchorage, Alaska, several years ago where there is a quarter of a million people with an untold number of telephone lines crossing through the atmosphere. Although the lines of communication between Pat and her son were accidentally cut off by circumstances, the spiritual bond of a Mother’s love could not be severed.

For Pat, though, she needed just one call to assuage her motherly concern for her son, and by God, she got it.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy