Credit: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
Our story starts with Craig, a young boy who lives in Harlow, Maine, with his father.
Craig’s mother passed away when he was younger. Craig and his father go to church together every Sunday. At church one day, a billionaire named Mr. Harrigan takes notice of Craig. He later decides to visit Craig to make a job offer since he wants Craig to read books to him. Craig wonders why he was chosen over other town kids. They are all more intelligent and better readers than he is. Regardless, he accepts the job anyways and begins reading to Mr. Harrigan three times a week.
Credit: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
Five years pass, and Craig becomes a teenager.
Craig’s age has never stopped him from continuing to read for Mr. Harrigan. Craig takes the bus to the closest city every day to attend classes. On the first day, he is shocked to realize most students have phones, and he doesn’t. However, despite this difference between them, he still manages to make some friends. However, later on, Craig meets a bully named Kenny. Kenny approaches Crag and orders him to shine his shoes. Craig refuses, and their conversation becomes an argument. Finally, a teacher named Ms. Hart hears them and decides to intervene, but Craig tells her everything is fine.
After working for Mr. Harrigan for a while, Craig decides to buy him a phone.
The older man doesn’t want it at first because he’s fears getting addicted. However, he quickly changes his mind when Craig shows him everything he can do with it. Such as staying up-to-date with the stock market and news in real-time instead of waiting for tomorrow’s newspaper. From then on, Craig would teach Harrigan new ways of using the phone during each visit.
When Craig came to the mansion sometime later while Edna was having her day off, he let himself in after Harrigan took too long to answer the door. Sadly it’s not the phone that is distracting him but something worse: Harrigan has died on his chair with his phone in his hand. It’s an alarming and upsetting image to find, and Craig begins crying when he grabs the phone and discovers Harrigan has been about to call him. He calls his dad for help, and later an ambulance and police come to take care of everything. After Craig goes home, he is so tired that he does not realize that he took Harrigan’s phone. As a final goodbye to Mr.Harrigan – Craig’s best friend – Craig sends a text to Harrigan’s phone saying he’ll miss their afternoons together.
Credit: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
Eventually, Craig recovers a bit from the death of Mr. Harrigan.
He returns to school and develops a better outlook due in part to Ms. Hart’s supportive teaching. Kenny, Craig’s bully, gets caught selling drugs on campus and is expelled. Craig is pleased after hearing about it. Despite not being the one to “rat” on Kenny, Kenny believes Craig snitched on him anyways and seeks revenge by attacking him. Mr. Hart finds Craig afterward and suspects Kenney, but Craig denies it since he wants to graduate without drama. When Craig’s father sees his beaten-up form at home, he encourages Craig to share his bottled feelings with someone, even if that person isn’t him. Craig took his father’s advice and called Harrigan’s phone to leave a message detailing what Kenny made him go through. The following day, Kenny was found dead.
Craig is shocked at Kenny’s death but eventually decides it is a coincidence.
Soon Craig put the event behind him, graduated from high school, and went on to enjoy university life in Boston. However, tragedy strikes when he gets news that Ms. Hart has died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver named Dean. Devastated, Craig attends her funeral but then watches as Dean escapes jail time with the promise of rehab instead of an actual sentence. Enraged, Craig retrieves his old box from his childhood room which contains his old phone with Mr. Harrigan’s number on it. He calls Harrigan’s number and leaves a message pleading for Dean’s death.
The newspaper reports Dean’s death a few days later. Craig realizes he’s a murderer now and has a total mental breakdown. He didn’t know what to do and even thought about ending his own life to make up for the sins that he had committed. But thankfully, after some back and forth, he eventually comes to his senses and decides to throw away his old phone, thus allowing Harrigan’s spirit to rest in peace finally.
