Last evening, while helping Mother find airfare deals to Vancouver and/or Seattle, we heard the phone ring incessantly again. It was that goddamn man again.

Father picked up, so this time he was the "motherfucker" who this asshole is going to kill. He tried to explain that the person who keeps dialing his number is frail. No matter.

Did Grandmother try dialing again? This is the third incident I know. I really would like to find out if she tried dialing while I was downstairs helping Mother. I stopped her from dialing yesterday morning, but apparently she was at it again. That, or she forgot someone yelled at her.

When I went upstairs, Father was fucking furious. Apparently he was still upstairs washing the dishes when the threat came in. In a rage, he told me, "Just call the phone company and cancel the number!"

I wasn't going to do that. We've had that number as long as we've had the house. It's a part of our identity -- well, at least I think it's part of my identity. And if I'm about to lose The Store and Grandmother, I sure as fuck am not going to just give up the phone number, not without trying to think of everything first.

What I did do is something I thought of doing, should have done, and regret not doing earlier: Calling the phone company and getting Caller ID Block. If I did it as soon as this bastard said he'd kill me Sunday(?) morning, I think I could have been fine. Now, I'm afraid that he wrote down or even memorized our number. If Grandmother mistakenly calls him again, it doesn't matter if we show up as "Private Call." She's called him thrice. He can harass us from here to eternity.

But I called and asked for it anyway. Goddamn asshole who convinced me to switch plans; if we had Caller ID Block all this time, we wouldn't've had this problem. While I was on the phone with "Dayton," Father came to my door. Cooler heads prevailed, sort of; instead of canceling the number, he just decided he would unplug the phone. From now on, she won't be able to call.

Of course, she won't be able to field calls, either. And that would be bad. She already can't cook because Father has turned off everything. And it's not as if she can drive anywhere. The only social connection she has right now is with friends over the phone. Lose that, and she's really fucked. But to be honest with you, right now, I don't know what else to do. Well, maybe besides hope that she can't call people anymore. I have to step and help her if she wants to call anybody else.

However, coming back home from work this afternoon I saw Grandmother on the phone. Well, I guess Father didn't unplug the phone. She did say that she didn't call her friend, but her friend called her. Guess that may be the way it has to be from now on, and if she learns that she can't call people anymore that's at least a sign she still has some of mental faculties together. Still, I want to help her help herself. Without being able to call, she's just some inert reaction machine, not being able to do anything unless someone reaches out to her. That's no fucking way to live.