“Thank you,” she said.
“Tell Ellen I just want to talk,” the whisper told Ellen’s mother.
She hung up. Hands shaking, she opened her cellular settings. On an iPhone, she knew, you could block private numbers by toggling . But that blocked everyone not in your contacts—deliveries, doctors, her sister’s new work phone. It was a sledgehammer when she needed a scalpel. how to block private numbers on comcast
Ellen followed the glowing blue path on her TV screen. There it was: . A small toggle, gray and waiting.
Marcus hesitated. Then, quietly: “You could forward your cell to your home number. Then the rejection works again. Star-two-one. But… it’s a band-aid.” “Thank you,” she said
The voicemails were worse. Not threats, exactly. Just breathing. A soft, rhythmic sound like someone asleep on the other end of the world. Once, a whisper: “You there, Ellen?”
“Oh, sweetie, I can help with that,” Latoya said. Her keyboard clattered like rain on a tin roof. “Do you have your Xfinity Voice remote?” Hands shaking, she opened her cellular settings
“That’s it. Flip it on. Any call that blocks its own number will hear a recording: ‘This number does not accept anonymous calls.’ They don’t even get to your voicemail.”