Cellepathy (sell-eh'-pathy,n.)

That's the art of making a cell phone call without touching any buttons or saying anything to your phone. It just does it on its own.

How do I know this? Let me count the ways. In the last few days my wife has called me on my cell without any idea she has made the call. Tonight, it happened twice as I was sitting next to her at our patio table having dinner with friends.

“Why are you calling me,” I asked? “I'm right here.” Giggles and puzzled looks ensue. Then laughter. A few minutes later my cell rings telling me I have voice mail. I listen and hear my wife talking with our diner guests about how her phone makes these calls while in her pocket.

I hand her my phone so she can hear herself talking to the friends, not to me. “I hate the sound of my voice,” she says, laughing. I erase the voice mail.

When she keeps the phone in her pocket and leans a certain way the phone speed dials my mobile number, which is a single digit near the bottom of the instrument. What makes it puzzling is that the keypad is supposed to be “locked” when these calls are made.

I just tried to make a call with the keypad locked and it wouldn't work. How does my wife's cell unlock its keypad and make a call? Either the cell phone genie is unlocking my wife's phone or she has developed a multi-tasking lean, first unlock, then call me.

Cellepathy.