The phone. For a moment, she thought the telephone rang. It happened often before, while Jon was in high school. Sometimes the line would go dead as soon as she asked, "Who's this?" "A girl from school, of course," she would tell her husband, grinning. Other times, there would be a single ring, as if the caller abruptly regretted it, or as if it were enough to let it ring once. Who knew? Like this last call. It only rang once.