[Balin] Share the wine (*CALL ME*)

[Balin]

Micah waits in a small room until he hears a noise. Less than a minute later, he leaves. He does not leave anything in the room and does not take anything from it, and he gains no benefit from this, so why does he do this?

[WiZ]

PM Sent

[AlbatrossLover]

Micah = HAM? Is the room in Micah's house? Someone else's house? Micah's workplace?

Was the noise produced by a human? An animal? An object? Did it come from inside the room? Outside the room? Outside the building/house the room is in?

[Earnest]

Is Micah waiting for the noise? Was it a test? A medical examination?
Was he doing something relevant while waiting in the room? Sleeping? Reading? Paying attention to any noise? Can we assume that the room was completely silent? Was him forced to stay iii the room? Was Micah a prisoner and the room a prison cell?

Noise = a bell ringing? a phone ringing? a noise signaling the end/beginning of something? a noise signaling that the bathroom was free? An alarm? the noise of something falling?


Less than a minute later, he leaves --> could he have waited longer? Less?

[Balin]

PM Sent PM Responded

Micah = HAM? Yes Is the room in Micah's house? Someone else's house? Micah's workplace? No to all

Was the noise produced by a human? An animal? An object? This Did it come from inside the room? This Outside the room? Outside the building/house the room is in?

Is Micah waiting for the noise? Yes Was it a test? A medical examination? Neither
Was he doing something relevant while waiting in the room? No Sleeping? Reading? Paying attention to any noise? None of these Can we assume that the room was completely silent? Yes Was him forced to stay iii the room? No Was Micah a prisoner and the room a prison cell? No

Noise = a bell ringing? a phone ringing? This a noise signaling the end/beginning of something? a noise signaling that the bathroom was free? An alarm? the noise of something falling?

Less than a minute later, he leaves --> could he have waited longer? Less? Possibly either

[trebor]

Is the phone his? Does it belong to someone he knows? Does he know whose it is? Is it ringing because someone is calling it? Texting? Because it’s alarm is going off?

If it’s just a phone call, does he know who’s calling? Does he answer it? Does someone else answer it? Does Micah hear the conversation? Is anyone else in the room with Micah? Does a relevant conversation occur on the phone?

Does the phone call confirm something for Micah? Or deny something? Prove something? Does someone die during the course of events pertaining to the situation?

Is Micah’s profession relevant?

Is the room in a public building? An office building? Medical building?

[wunderland]

Is the room a phone booth?

[GalFisk]

Does this benefit someone else? Inconvenience someone else? Is he there by his own free will? Does he leave by his own free will? Is he waiting for the noise? When he entered the room, was he expecting the series of events in the puzzle to take place?

[Balin]

Is the phone his? No Does it belong to someone he knows? No Does he know whose it is? Yes Is it ringing because someone is calling it? This Texting? Because it’s alarm is going off?

If it’s just a phone call, does he know who’s calling? Yes Does he answer it? Yes Does someone else answer it? See prev Does Micah hear the conversation? See prev Is anyone else in the room with Micah? No Does a relevant conversation occur on the phone? Yes

Does the phone call confirm something for Micah? Or deny something? Prove something? None of these Does someone die during the course of events pertaining to the situation? No

Is Micah’s profession relevant? No

Is the room in a public building? An office building? Medical building? None of these

Is the room a phone booth? Yes

Does this benefit someone else? Yes Inconvenience someone else? No Is he there by his own free will? Yes Does he leave by his own free will? Yes Is he waiting for the noise? Yes When he entered the room, was he expecting the series of events in the puzzle to take place? Yes

[Doriana]

Is the phone that rings the one that's installed in the phone booth? a mobile phone placed in the phone booth?
Any crimes relevant? Anything illegal going on here?
Is Micah a spy?

[Balin]

Is the phone that rings the one that's installed in the phone booth? Yes a mobile phone placed in the phone booth?
Any crimes relevant? Anything illegal going on here? Yes, somewhere on the border between "illegal" and "loophole"
Is Micah a spy? No

[Doriana]

Is the person that benefits from this the one that calls Micah? Does Micah have some kind of insider information that he gives to the person who calls?

[Balin]

Is the person that benefits from this the one that calls Micah? No Does Micah have some kind of insider information that he gives to the person who calls? No

[wunderland]

Did he previously relevantly phone someone? from the phone booth? the same person who called the phone booth?
Did Micah expect this person to call the phone booth? ask them to do so?
Did the caller expect Micah to answer the call? or someone else?
Is Micah hoping to avoid surveillance of his personal phone(s)? Is he trying to avoid call charges?
Does he relevantly provide information over the phone? or instructions? or does he receive information? or instructions?

[Balin]

Did he previously relevantly phone someone? No from the phone booth? the same person who called the phone booth?
Did Micah expect this person to call the phone booth? Yes ask them to do so? No
Did the caller expect Micah to answer the call? Yes or someone else?
Is Micah hoping to avoid surveillance of his personal phone(s)? No Is he trying to avoid call charges? Yes
Does he relevantly provide information over the phone? No or instructions? Yes/Yope or does he receive information? No or instructions? No

[Earnest]

Did Micah ask to be called in another phone boot? To meet someone? Are international phone calls relevant? Does it happen in modern times? Can we assume in present times? Can we assume real life (e.g. no movies/magical things happening)?

Did Micah know the other person who called? Relevant their relationship? A friend? Colleague? Relative? His wife? Son/daughter? Or maybe a stranger? Are emergency numbers relevant? Is the job of the one calling relevant?
Is the person on the other side of the phone asking a question? Making a statement? Does Micah answer? Did the conversation last less than a minute? Relevant? Did Micah and person X on the other side of the phone previously make agreements? Does Micah have a cellphone? If so, does the other person have Micah's phone's number?

Is Micah trying not to be found by someone? Did Micah leave the phone boot because the conversation was over? Because he Wass interrupted? Because he wanted thee other to hear something relevant? Did someone else relevantly enter the phone boot after Micah?

[Balin]

Did Micah ask to be called in another phone boot? No To meet someone? No Are international phone calls relevant? Possibly; I read this re long distance but it may have been possible for international also Does it happen in modern times? For svv of "modern" Can we assume in present times? No Can we assume real life (e.g. no movies/magical things happening)? Yes (this is ROIMBT)

Did Micah know the other person who called? No Relevant their relationship? A friend? Colleague? Relative? His wife? Son/daughter? Or maybe a stranger? This, but he knew who the person was Are emergency numbers relevant? Is the job of the one calling relevant? Yes
Is the person on the other side of the phone asking a question? This Making a statement? Does Micah answer? Yes Did the conversation last less than a minute? Assume so Relevant? Yes Did Micah and person X on the other side of the phone previously make agreements? No Does Micah have a cellphone? No If so, does the other person have Micah's phone's number?

Is Micah trying not to be found by someone? No Did Micah leave the phone boot because the conversation was over? Yes Because he Wass interrupted? No Because he wanted thee other to hear something relevant? No Did someone else relevantly enter the phone boot after Micah? No

[Balin]

RECAP:
Micah is in a phone booth, waiting for the phone to ring. He speaks to the person at the end of the line before hanging up and leaving the booth. By doing this, he helps someone else avoid call charges.

HINT:
Given why he is doing this, who is the speaker on the other end of the line?

[trebor]

Is the other person a prison inmate? Someone who works for the phone company? Is the question they ask Micah, "Can you hear me?" Were they asking Micah if a task had been completed? Whatever the question, did Micah answer in the affirmative?

Is it relevant how Micah knew this person was going to call? Did he know that this specific person was going to call? Did he know that just some general someone (with the relevant profession) would be calling? Had Micah, prior to entering the phone booth, done something that benefitted this person? That harmed them somehow?

[Balin]

Is the other person a prison inmate? No Someone who works for the phone company? Yes Is the question they ask Micah, "Can you hear me?" No Were they asking Micah if a task had been completed? No Whatever the question, did Micah answer in the affirmative? Yes

Is it relevant how Micah knew this person was going to call? Yes Did he know that this specific person was going to call? Not necessarily the specific person, but... Did he know that just some general someone (with the relevant profession) would be calling? ...Yes
Had Micah, prior to entering the phone booth, done something that benefitted this person? That harmed them somehow? Neither

[Hobbsicle]

Was the phone company calling to see if it was a valid number? That it was the number of a particular person? If a particular address?

[Balin]

Was the phone company calling to see if it was a valid number? No That it was the number of a particular person? Not quite If a particular address? No

[CoffeeBean]

Does Micah work for the same company as the person who makes the call? If not, does he work for someone or a company connected to the one where the person who makes the call works?
Is the location of the phone booth relevant?
Did the person who made the call answered by Micah call anyone else prior to calling the phone at the place where Micah answered? Did they make another call to a different phone after Micah ended the call?
Has Micah followed this sequence before? At this same location? At another location? In cooperation with the same business who is making the call?

[Hobbsicle]

Reaching into distant memory, I seem to remember something about calling long distance and the other person would pay (collect call?). Is this related to that? So ultimately no one got charged? The question would be something like, do you wish to accept this call?

[Balin]

Does Micah work for the same company as the person who makes the call? No If not, does he work for someone or a company connected to the one where the person who makes the call works? No
Is the location of the phone booth relevant? No
Did the person who made the call answered by Micah call anyone else prior to calling the phone at the place where Micah answered? Not relevantly Did they make another call to a different phone after Micah ended the call? Not relevantly
Has Micah followed this sequence before? Yes At this same location? Possibly At another location? Possibly In cooperation with the same business who is making the call? I wouldn't call it "cooperation"

Reaching into distant memory, I seem to remember something about calling long distance and the other person would pay (collect call?). Is this related to that? So ultimately no one got charged? The question would be something like, do you wish to accept this call? Got it!

****SPOILER****

Micah is working with a friend in order for the friend to avoid paying long distance charges. Micah's friend makes a long distance call from a pay phone and charges it to the number of a second pay phone. The operator calls the second pay phone, where Micah is waiting to "accept" the charges of the long distance call.

[trebor]

Oh, Jesus, that is a good one. I like that. I think I've made/received maybe four or five collect calls in my life. I would've never thought people would've gone to such planning to make a call. But I definitely remember being told as a kid not to make long-distance calls outside of certain times.

So simple, so clever. This is an early contender for Puzzle of the [next] Year for me.