San Francisco.

A modest three-story office building on the outskirts of the city is home to the Matthew Davis Cancer Research Foundation. The office building is a few years old, with a rustic gray exterior and an unobtrusive Foundation logo that is often difficult for first-time visitors.

In front of the office building is a small parking lot, in which several cars of different ages and styles are parked, silently enduring the rain.

"Damn it!"

Eddie Lewis pushed the car door open, glared hard at the gloomy sky, and got out of the car anyway. He held the briefcase above his head in one hand and a paper cup of coffee in the other, and hurriedly walked into the office building under the bleak wind and cold rain.

"Hey, Eddie, you're late!" the receptionist smiled as he handed him a tissue, "Bad weather, right? ”

"It's terrible! There was a traffic jam on the road!"

Eddie put the coffee cup at the front desk, took a tissue to dry his cheeks and bald head, wiped the raindrops off his glasses, and chatted with the receptionist about the weather.

"I'll go up first, I'll see you later!" he tossed the tissue into the trash, picked up his coffee and motioned to the receptionist, and walked straight into the elevator, straightening his tie to the mirror in the elevator.

He is a volunteer with the Foundation, taking time off to serve the Foundation pro bono and has been working for the Foundation for almost a decade now.

He was a little late today because he happened to be stuck in a traffic jam while driving through San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood. Traffic jams are common in San Francisco, but today's traffic jams are unusual for reasons – Chinese lion dance teams celebrate the New Year with a lion dance on the streets, with gongs and drums and firecrackers, attracting a large number of locals and tourists to watch, blocking the road, plus the bad weather makes the vehicles slow as snails.

He should have thought that it was the Chinese New Year, and the influence was so great that even in the United States could not escape.

It's not the first time he's been late for the Chinese New Year, but it's not his fault, who makes the Chinese New Year's time not fixed, he can't remember the changing dates at all. It would be nice if it could be fixed, for example, to set Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday of November every year, as in the United States, so that he can remember it and take a detour during the Chinese New Year.

Bite!

The elevator stopped on the third floor, the elevator doors opened, and his office was here.

"Good morning, Add!"

"Good morning!"

In the hallway, he greeted his Foundation colleagues, most of whom were volunteers for the Foundation's unpaid service, some of whom had family members dying of cancer, others who simply wanted to help, and Eddie was one of the latter.

"That's right, Add!"

The colleague who had just greeted him stopped him from behind.

"What?" he asked, looking back.

"Just passing by your office, I heard a phone ringing. The man said as he walked backwards.

"Thank you. I'm late today," Eddie nodded in thanks, "Ah, do you want to go to a nearby bar for a drink in the evening?" I mean, assuming it doesn't rain. ”

"Okay, see you or leave. ”

Eddie pulls out the key and opens the door to the fundraising office, there is no one in the office, only he goes to work today. He glanced at the landline on the table—it wasn't ringing, but the call recording light was flashing, indicating that there was one or more phone calls to be played.

He placed his briefcase and paper cup of coffee on the table, pressed the button of the answering machine, and then took off his coat, which was wet in the light rain, and hung it on the coat rack.

"Hello, Matthew Davis Cancer Research Foundation Fundraising Office, is not at work right now, please leave a message after a 'drop' and we will get back to you at your convenience. ”

The voice he had recorded in advance came from the answering machine.

"Hello, no one? I'd like to inquire about donations...... Forget it, I'll call again later. The voice of an elderly woman came from the other end of the phone.

The other party only said this one sentence and hung up the phone.

Eddie Lewis's daily job is mainly responsible for making and receiving calls, he has heard the voices of many people, and can even judge some simple information about the voice owner based on the voice. The woman who had just called, with a distinctly Southern California accent, was over sixty years old, spoke softly and appropriately, and was apparently a well-educated, cultured person — and probably one of the Foundation's main fundraisers.

It's not surprising that there are several similar calls every day.

However, Eddie inadvertently glanced at the other party's caller number, but couldn't help frowning - this is a transoceanic phone, the telephone area code is not the United States, nor Canada, he only remembers the area code of these two countries, and the other party's area code is very unfamiliar.

The Matthew Davis Foundation rarely receives donations from abroad, mainly from North America, with occasional Europeans.

A long-distance phone call from abroad, with a local California accent, sparked some interest.

Will she call again?

Judging by experience, the chances are about half to half.

Some people decide to donate on the spur of the moment, and when they calm down, they may regret it and not call again, while others choose to donate at random, occasionally find the Matthew Davis Foundation's phone number on the Yellow Pages, call them, and if no one answers, they switch to another organization, which makes no big difference to the donor.

But it can't be helped, it's all because he met the lion dance team in the morning, which caused him to be late, and it would be a pity if the foundation missed out on a large donation because of this.

Eddie stood by the window, looking at San Francisco in the hazy drizzle, and took a sip of coffee to warm up.

He hated the rain and got wet, like the unidentified breed cat at home, but it was always raining in San Francisco this season, often cloudy for days, damp and cold, which made people feel terrible.

After thinking about it, he replayed the recording of the phone call just now.

His hearing is good, and he seems to faintly hear the meow from the background, does the other party also like to have cats?

What should I do? Do I want to dial it back?

The other party has already stated that they will dial it back later, and perhaps dialing it at this time will make the other party feel unhappy or not trusted......

Add hesitated.

Jingle bells!

Just then, the phone rang again.

"Hello, Matthew Davis Cancer Research Foundation Fundraising Office ......" answering machine automatically connected the phone. Only then did Eddie remember that the answering machine was not yet connected, and hurriedly picked up the receiver.

"Hi there, I'm Eddie Lewis. He said.

"Hello, I'm Catherine Donna Ryan, you can call me Cathy. ”

The voice on the other side of the phone was exactly the same as before.