T wo days had passed, and I still couldn’t find my phone. And what was worse—the apps that find your phone apparently only work if you download them BEFORE you lose it. What is the point in that?
HOW COULD I LIVE WITHOUT A PHONE?! (Well, except for all the time in my life I had previously lived without a phone….)
I had to get a new one ASAP. I would just have to come clean to my parents and beg for forgiveness.
My mom was at her desk.
“Mom, can I talk to you?” I asked.
“Sure, what’s up?” she replied.
“What would you do if you lost something that was very expensive, and very important to you, and that you promised not to lose in the first place?” I figured if I kept it vague, she wouldn’t suspect anything.
“You lost your phone already?” she asked.
How could she possibly know? I swear she was a mind reader!
“I think my locker ate it,” I admitted.
“That’s disappointing, Babymouse. Having a phone is a big responsibility. If you want a new one, you’ll have to pay for it yourself.”
Le sigh.
I logged on to the computer to take a look at my bank balance.
Ugh. It was worse than I thought, but I’d have to figure something out. I was going crazy without my phone. My fingers were shaking. My hands and heart felt so empty. (I had been secretly carrying around my calculator just to have something to keep me company. I think that remote-control experiment really messed with my head.)
I opened a new tab, and typed in the Whiz BangTM website to see how much a new phone would cost.
FREE! Now, that I could afford!
I begged my mom to take me to the store. She agreed, but only after I promised to finish my homework and clean my room. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to do my chores.
My mom took Squeak and me to the Whiz BangTM store later that night. Just my luck, the exact same employee was working.
“Hey! I remember you,” she said. “Weren’t you just here?”
“Yes,” I replied, embarrassed. “I lost my phone, and I need a new one.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but the good news is we have lots of exciting new models that came RIGHT AFTER you purchased your last phone!”
“New models? Oooh! Tell me more!”
“We’ve just introduced the new Whiz BangTM Oversize Mini,” the saleswoman said.
“I’ll take it!”
“A Whiz Bang™ Oversize Mini?” my mom asked. “So it’s a larger version of the Mini? Wouldn’t that just be the same as the original?”
The saleswoman and I both had a good laugh. Mothers can be so embarrassing sometimes.
“Ma’am, these are completely different models,” she explained. “The Whiz Bang™ Oversize Mini is larger than the Whiz Bang™ Oversize Mini Mini but not quite as large as the Whiz Bang™ Oversize Oversize Mini. Let me show you.”
She pulled out a tray from under the counter.
“See, Mom.” I pointed to their various awesome features. “They are all totally different.”
“Whatever you say, Babymouse,” she said. “It’s your money, so it’s up to you.”
Here was my chance to impress everyone with my online research and savvy as a consumer. I picked out the Whiz BangTM Oversize Mini, which was the one I had wanted originally.
“What color would you like?” the saleswoman asked.
“Do you have pink?”
“Do we have pink?” she laughed. “Of course we have pink! We have pink pink, off-pink, sunrise pink, sunset pink, flamingo pink, pink champagne, and bubble gum pink.”
“Bubble gum, please.” I wanted to keep it classic. Old-school pink.
“How much is it?” my mom asked.
“Great news!” continued the saleswoman. “We’re running a special right now, so your total is the low, low price of ninety dollars.” Then, under her breath, she added, “Excluding taxes and fees, of course.”
“Ninety dollars?! But the website said it would be free,” I said, shocked.
“Oh, you must not have read the fine print. The phone is free only for new customers with a thirty-two month contract,” she said. “You already have a contract with us, and you aren’t due for an upgrade for at least another year.”
Argh. That definitely complicated things.
“If you don’t have the money, Babymouse,” Squeak said, “I could lend it to you.”
“That’s so sweet, Squeak!” Mom said. “What a nice thing to do for your sister.”
As it turned out, the phone was over a hundred dollars with taxes and fees, which really makes me wonder why people say “talk is cheap.”
“Thanks for lending me the money, Squeak,” I said. “So, what’s the catch?”
“Let’s just say there’s some fine print,” he said with a smile.
In the end, I agreed to let him borrow the phone and to do his chores until I paid him back. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he also made me promise to give him fifty percent of my next Halloween candy stash.
Typical 
-$ 
-$ 
-$
It was annoying to have to cough up all that cash, but it felt GREAT to have a phone again. This time around, I wouldn’t let my Whiz BangTM out of my sight (even more than the first time)! And I was going to keep my Precious safe.
So the first thing I did was go online to look at phone cases. I thought this would be a pretty easy task, but, boy, was I wrong! There were hundreds—maybe even thousands—of different cases! And each one had all these cool special features.
There were shatterproof ones, which were so strong that you could drop your phone off the top of the Eiffel Tower without it breaking. 
There were waterproof cases, which were guaranteed to protect your phone under ten thousand leagues of water. There were glow-in-the-dark cases, which made finding your phone at night a snap. There were Velcro cases, which could keep your phone in place in your purse or backpack.
They even had a phone case “glove,” which stuck to your hand so you never needed to put your phone down. I seriously considered that one, but there were some pretty big everyday drawbacks, TBH.