22. Long Distance Call

Billy's beloved grandmother visits for his fifth birthday party, despite being deathly frail. She gives the boy a toy telephone, telling him that he can always talk to her on it. She then becomes gravely weak and delusional, failing to recognize her son Chris and imagining that Billy is her son instead, before dying.

Billy's parents, especially his mother Sylvia, become concerned when he spends all his time on the toy telephone. He tells them he is talking to his grandmother, which they dismiss as his way of grieving. He says that she tells him she is lonely and misses him. While the parents are at her funeral, Billy runs out in front of a car. The driver, who barely manages to swerve out of the way, reports that Billy said someone told him to do it. When his father asks him why he did it, Billy says he does not know.

Chris tries to explain that Grandma has died, and asks that he not use the toy phone in front of his mother. He discusses with Sylvia how his mother had two children before him, both of whom died, which is why she was so attached to him and especially Billy, who reminded her of Chris and helped her forget years of loss.

That night, Sylvia is awakened by the sound of Billy talking and laughing. Going to his room, she grabs the phone out of his hands, but is shocked when she hears Grandma on it and drops it, inadvertently breaking it in the process. Upset, Billy runs out of the room. Chris and Sylvia look for him only to find him face down in their garden pool.

An ambulance attendant informs the parents that Billy's chances are not good. Chris goes upstairs to Billy's room, picks up the toy phone, and begs his mother to give Billy back and allow him to experience life. He pleads that if she really loves him, she will let him live. Downstairs, the attendants' efforts to revive Billy succeed, and when Chris joins them, he and Sylvia embrace, relieved.