legends · 4 min read ·
Operator's Log
A manual telephone exchange operator connects calls to numbers that do not exist and are answered.
**Dunmere Manual Telephone Exchange — Operator's Log (Night Operator: Mrs. G. Lowe)**
*Record all calls on the switchboard. Calling number, number requested, time connected.*
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**4 Oct.** 22:10 Dunmere 14 to Dunmere 31. Connected. 22:25 Dunmere 7 to Kerrow trunk. Connected. 22:50 Dunmere 22 to Dunmere 3. Connected. Quiet night.
**5 Oct.** 22:05 Dunmere 31 to Dunmere 14. Connected. 23:20 Dunmere 9 to Dunmere 12. No reply.
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**6 Oct.** 01:12 Caller from Dunmere 41 asks for Dunmere 66. There is no Dunmere 66. The numbers stop at 54. I said so. The caller said: "Try, please. They'll answer."
I plugged a cord into an empty jack. It rang. I heard the bell ring in the line. Someone lifted the receiver at the other end. A woman said "Hello?" I connected the call.
**6 Oct, 01:40.** Caller Dunmere 41 clears. I removed the cord. The jack I'd used was a blank in the panel, a brass disc with no number.
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**8 Oct.** 00:30 Caller from Dunmere 12 asks for Dunmere 71. 00:35 Caller from Dunmere 22 asks for Dunmere 88. 00:50 Caller from Dunmere 3 asks for Dunmere 102.
All are numbers that do not exist. I told each of them. Each said the same thing: "They'll answer."
They did.
I have thought a lot about this. I have worked this exchange since 1951. I know the subscribers. I know their voices. I know every plug and cord. I have never connected a call to a number that was not on the board.
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**10 Oct.** Nine calls to numbers over 54. All connected. All answered. The panel has extra jacks, in the dark at the top, that I had never noticed. They are small, with brass rings, in neat rows. They have no numbers on them. When I plug a cord into one, it lights.
**12 Oct.** Eleven calls. The extra jacks are spreading down the panel. This morning I counted two hundred of them. Each one has a tiny label, hand-lettered, with a name instead of a number. The names are those of the dead. I read Dr. Ellery, the Rev. Pryce, old Mrs. Frane. Mr. Hale, who died in 1969.
The callers are asking for them by name. The dead are answering.
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**15 Oct.** At 02:00 a call came in from a number I did not know. A voice, a man's, very clear, said: "Operator. I would like to speak to my wife." I asked for the number. He said: "She is the second jack from the left, in the top row." I looked. The jack was lit. The label read: *Mrs. A. Hale.*
I plugged him in. I heard him say "Annie?" And I heard her reply. Then I took the headset off, and put it down, as one does for a private call.
I sat for a long time with the cords hanging. The exchange was very quiet. Outside the window the street was dark. And behind me, in the lines, I could hear them talking, hundreds of calls, a low murmur like a wind in grass.
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**19 Oct.** The panel is full. There are no more jacks to light. I am the only operator. I have not been home in four days. The calls come without a break. I do not know who is calling. I do not know whom they are asking for. I connect them. I do not listen. It does not matter. Everybody who rings has someone to talk to.
**23 Oct.** A call came through at 03:30 that I had not expected. The line was clear. The caller said nothing. I said: "Number, please." A pause. Then my own voice, very quiet, from the other end. It said: "Operator. I would like to be connected."
I asked for the number. It said: "The one at the bottom of the panel, on the right. The one nobody's used."
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**Final log entry (Dunmere Manual Exchange, 24 Oct)**
*Night operator's position vacant. The exchange has been closed since 1987. The switchboard was dismantled in 1991. Callers who dial Dunmere 0 for the operator are connected to a recording.*
*On the 24th, the recording was replaced. When a caller dials 0 now, they hear a woman's voice, kind, tired, unhurried:*
*"Number, please."*
*Callers who give a number are connected. Callers who do not know which number to ask for are told, gently: "That's quite all right, dear. Hold the line. I'll find them."*