The deputy director was also momentarily confused. With much patience, he repeatedly questioned the boy if he had remembered the number correctly.
"I…" The boy scratched his head and, for a moment, started to doubt himself, too.
He knew his mother's number by heart and could even recite it in reverse. However, he hardly called her. The boy was usually at home watching TV, and there was no urgent need for him to seek her. His mother had asked him to memorize the number for emergency's sake, but as days passed, his memory of the number had faded somewhat, so he had some difficulty when he recited the number. He was surprised to learn that it was a futile call.
The deputy director tried finding some leads from the household registry, but the search turned out to be in vain, too.
