The Return to Eastmont

Ellen Nallon squints as she searches for the parkway entrance through the wild, frenzied March storm that beats against the windshield of her silver Camaro. Was it really over ten years since she drove on this parkway for what she prayed, and vehemently swore, would be the last time? Would her return from Florida to the Bell Telephone's Eastmont traffic office reunion resurrect the painful memories she had worked so hard to put to rest?

Ellen had just about convinced herself that curiosity was the prime factor in her decision to attend the Bell System's Eastmont traffic office reunion. Certainly, one could not have worked so many years with a group of people and not wonder what had become of them! She frowns as she remembers her therapist's suggestion that her decision to make the long, arduous drive north to attend this reunion was triggered by a compulsion to return and, somehow, alter the past.

The storm had not diminished and the swirling cascade of sleet and snow continued to pelt her windshield, but the broad, straight parkway lanes with the freshly-painted white lines make it possible for Ellen to maintain a reasonable speed. Checking her watch, she realizes it is past five o'clock, and in an hour it will be dark. Unfortunately, she will also hit the workers' traffic as they head for their homes. She promises herself that once she checks into a motel she will take a warm, leisurely shower and just relax. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to drive around and scout the area, since the Eastmont reunion would not start until 8 P.M.

As she nears the Eastmont exit, Ellen cannot ignore the sudden chill that envelops her body. Despite the emotional and geographical distancing from Eastmont that she had struggled to achieve, she is painfully aware that Eastmont can still trigger deep apprehension and ominous vibrations within her.

Sighting a Holiday Inn, Ellen veers to the right toward the exit ramp and is amazed at the changes that have taken place in the area. Several other motels, a couple of fast food restaurants, two gas stations, and a small strip mall now occupy the huge, barren stretch of land that had once bordered the parkway. After squeezing the Camaro into a tight parking slot, she pulls the hood of her raincoat tightly around her head, races toward the brightly lit entrance to McDonalds and orders a quarter pounder and a large coffee--no use having to come back out into the unyielding winter storm once she has checked in at the motel.

Finally stepping out of the warm shower she had been envisioning for the last hundred miles, Ellen reaches for her thick, wooly robe, turns off the overhead light, and pushing a chair closer to the big motel window, she stares out into the murky darkness of the night. Experiencing once again the wretched, bone-chilling cold and the grey bleakness of an Eastmont winter, Ellen is suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of memories of another March day so very long ago.

The Beginning

The month is March, and Ellen is seventeen and back in Eastmont. A heavy snow mixed with sleet has persisted through yet another cold winter day, and the roads are covered with ice and snow turned black from the noxious exhausts of an endless flow of cars and trucks entering and leaving the city.

Ellen is attempting to stomp the snow from her boots before she enters the Bell System Employment Office, but the frozen snow resists her efforts. Lining up behind a dozen other young girls who are waiting their turn to complete an application for the position of operator, she is finally handed the lengthy form. After another long wait, the application is reviewed by a stern, unsmiling women who repeats, parrot-like, what she has said to each of the other girls, "Eastmont is not hiring at the present, but we will keep your application on file in case there is an opening."

Discouraged, Ellen walks out into the bitter cold, heads for the Walgreens lunch counter on the corner, and orders a cup of coffee. After paying the waitress, she gets another coin ready as she waits patiently at the bus stop for the long ride home.

Three months later she receives a call and is sent for an interview at the local Bell Telephone employment office. Now, sitting in the darkened motel room, Ellen is astonished that she still remembers many of the interviewer's questions, some of which she thought at the time were rather personal and had absolutely nothing to do with the job. Had she found school boring? What did she think of her teachers? Was she living at home? Was her father working? What were her home duties? Did she pay board at home? Was there a day of the week she could not work--perhaps because of her religion? Did she plan to go to college? Was she dating? How frequently?

The questions were asked randomly and very casually, with no apparent order or importance; yet, in hindsight, Ellen realizes the interviewer had actually determined the economic conditions in her home, if she was self-supporting, if she had family responsibilities or religious obligations that would preclude working any scheduled day, if a steady boyfriend might discourage her from working evenings, if there was a chance she might leave to further her education, if she could accept authority, would she likely be able to handle the repetitive nature of the job, and did she respect people in authority.

Ellen closes her eyes as she remembers being asked to stand against a square column, which she assumed had been installed for structural purposes, and to stretch first her right arm and then her left arm as far as she could. The interviewer appeared to be estimating how far her arms extended across the brown and beige square tiles on the floor. Ellen guessed by the interviewer's smile that her arms must be long enough to be a Bell telephone operator.

Although Ellen had never liked math, she remembers that portion of the employment test as being easy, with simple addition and subtraction problems. She would eventually learn that the Bell System considered the traffic department to be their factory branch, and after determining a job applicant had normal vision and hearing and spoke clearly in the English language, they looked...