The Gulf's Mystery

Betsy Toog sat at her desk in the Coast Guard station of Destin, Florida, reading a magazine. It was a quiet night, and her duties were few: if the phone rang, she answered it.
    She was twiddling a finger in her ear when it rang. She wiped her hands quickly and picked it up. "Destin Coast Guard Station, this is Betsy speaking, how can I help you?"
    Nothing but the whisper of the wind came through the receiver.
    "Hello? Hello?" Betsy asked. "Is anyone there?" She took a glance at her computer's screen. It showed that the caller was somewhere in the gulf. "Can you hear me? Please respond." Betsy's supervisor noticed, and walked over. "There's nothing on the other end," Betsy said to him.

Beyond the Desired Part Two

This is the resolution of the story "Beyond the Desired."

Beyond the Desired

Old Lida, it was called, the strange thing. At the hours of six A.M., noon, six P.M., and midnight, it would ring out in its stuttering, gasping, two-tone sound. Cast hundreds of years ago – some say as far back as the fourteenth century, later brought to America – It had been on top of the Baptist Church on Montgomery Road for as long as Green Valley had been a town. The first ring was as many bells were: clear, distinct, high. The second, though, was lower and heavy. It remains the only church bell that is able to ring two sounds just on its own in the world; nobody is sure how it happens. Its many detractors say that is the only reason it is kept ringing, waking people in the night. There is the odd death-knell, or a fire spotted, but for the most part Lida swings away four times a day, sounding ding-dong . . . ding-dong at the appointed time.