Adjusting

When we first lived in British Honduras, its telephone system was like a charming step back into my early childhood summers in Michigan. Telephones were hand-cranked. At that time, Belize City had a population of about 30,000, but it operated like a far smaller town. The telephone operators functioned like well-trained private secretaries to the entire city. If the party you were calling was not at home, the operator told you so and, without being asked, would switch the call to another home where your friend might be enjoying a Coffee Morning or a Bridge Afternoon.

 

Thirty-odd years later when Belize had long had a modern telephone system, several of the long-distance operators who helped with my calls to and from Atlanta during Bucher’s terminal illness—disembodied, familiar voices whom I never had met—telephoned to offer their sympathy after his death. Belize has grown and changed but its beautiful sense of family has not been lost.

 

From letter written August 9, 1996

I tried to call a lodge at Placencia this week. There was a long wait, then some funny switching sounds, then a man’s voice.

Man: This is your AT&T operator.

Kate: What is AT&T doing in Belize?

Man: Where?

Kate: Belize, in Central America. Where are you?

Man: I’m in Charleston, South Carolina. Are you placing a call from Belize to the United States?

Kate: No, I’m calling from Belize City to one of the Districts.

Man: You must have dialed our access code by mistake.

Kate (indignantly): No, I didn’t. I dialed 06-23239.

Man: That’s not ours!

Kate: Of course it isn’t. Obviously the wires are crossed. That still happens here. I just don’t want to be charged for the call.

Man (ingratiatingly): You won’t be charged for the call. You didn’t reach your party.

Kate: We talked. That’s enough for the Belize operator.

My new friend was making noises about rectifying the situation in some way as I bade him a polite farewell.

I called the Belize operator and explained the crazy connection. She sounded harried as she admitted that they were having trouble with their Placencia circuit. I wondered what other interesting tales she already had heard before mine.