They're like Miss Osborne; they believe it is one of the fundamental principles of life that all must have pleasures.

But they were like the pleasures of Centralia--not God-fearing, exactly, but so dutiful.

They didn't have anything to do with 'calls.' "The real pleasures were going over the wire.

It was my business to make the connections that arrange those pleasures.

A little red light would flash--sometimes it would flash straight into my brain--and I'd say 'Number, please ?'--always with the rising inflection.