Hi! This is Mary.

"Hi! This is Mary. whisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisperwhisper," said the message on the voice mail.

Did she throw up in the hallway or pee her pants? What could have happened at school that would cause Mary to call, leave a strange message on the home answering machine, and then hang up?

I frantically called the school.

"Hi. I just got a message from my Mary and I couldn't understand it. I don't know if something is wrong or what," I said to the school secretary.

"Just a moment," the school secretary said.

"Hi, this is Mary," said a very mature voice. I knew instantly that the school secretary connected me with the school principal whose name is also Mary. I was alarmed becuase I thought it was because the problem was so serious that I had to talk to the principal first.

"Hi, this is Mary's mom. I mean, Mary the student. I got a call from Mary and I don't know what is going on."

"Oh. Mary's not here," said Mary the Principal in a confused voice.

"Where is she?!" I said getting more and more concerned.

"I mean she's not in my office. Let me check to see what is going on."

She put me on hold and then came back on the line.

"Mary's here and fine as far as we know. We're going to connect you to her classroom and you can talk to her."

"Ok," I said feeling confused. And that's when I realized that the school secretary was confused about which Mary had called me and just assumed it was Mary the Principal and not Mary the Student.

"Hi, this is Mary," said my daughter's voice.

"Hi, Mary. It's your mom. I got your message. What is wrong?"

"I forgot my recorder again and Mrs. N made me call you and tell you."

"That's it?!" I said.

"Mmmhm."

"Ok, we'll talk about it later," I said.

Sheesh.