Then came a buzz at the switchboard.
“That’s Beth calling from the Granite Head spotter tower.” Norma knew the number. “What does she want?”
“She’s relaying a report from Betty at Black Knob,” Rosa explained. “They have discovered a light against the sky well out to sea.”
“Tell her to ask Betty if it’s an airplane light,” Norma suggested.
Rosa relayed the message. For a time after that there was silence, and then came a second buzz. Rosa pressed the headphone to her ear and listened intently.
“She says that Betty does not think it is a plane light. It does not move across the sky and doesn’t grow brighter as it would if it was coming in. It just sort of sways.”
“Light on the mast of some ship,” Norma suggested.
“Beth says she suggested that,” Rosa explained. “Betty told her it seemed too high.”
“Oh! Sublime sweet evening star,” Norma sang softly. “How I wonder what you are.”
Then came a third buzz. “She says Bess has heard a large plane, a long way off the shore, heading south.”