the day the telephone almost never was

The fated historic moment is before us, a voice is heard saying:
“Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."
There is a pause and everything becomes silent. Alexander Graham Bell becomes a little disoriented and his surrounding a little hazy. A nasal voice comes over the wire:
“Hello? Mr. Bell?”
“Yes, I’m Alexander Graham Bell, who is this? What is going on?
The woman’s voice responds “Ah, Mr. Bell, yes, this is Marcy with your new ice delivery company, we have opened a new branch in your neighborhood.”
Bell, now a little dizzy “What, where am I?”
Marcy continues in a monotone voice “Mr. Bell I’m calling to know whether you are happy with your current ice delivery service. Is this a good time for you, I could call back some other time, what time is good for you?”
Bell shuffles his feet to adjust his balance, he looks that the invention before him. “This is not possible, it’s impossible”
Marcy’s monotone voice continues as if reading from a book “impossible… yes. Well, here at IcePick we try to make everything possible for you. Would you be interested in trying our ice for a week for half price? We have the coldest ice in the market.”
Bell, momentarily surrenders to the surreal and responds “No, no ice, I don’t understand what’s happening…”
Marcy continues: “We all need ice Mr. Bell, don’t turn down this great offer before you’ve heard what we are giving you. If you buy a one year service today I can give you a 30% discount and if you act now you get a free ice pick for picking IcePick. The free ice pick is yours to keep even if you decide to cancel your ice deliveries. You get to keep it forever, a free gift for trying our services…” Marcy’s voice trails off babbling something about a price guarantee.

Graham Bell’s eyes regain focus and he sees Mr. Watson storming into the room congratulating him and grabbing their coats to set off immediately to the patent office. Alexander Graham Bell sits down, rests his head on his hands and slowly answers: “We first have to stop by the church, I have a terrible feeling I should pray for my immortal soul before I patent this invention…”