Was she okay? Had she decided to date that Berkeley boy who’d been following her around? The idea of that nearly doubled Mary over. No, she couldn’t…she wouldn’t…would she? Mary didn’t think so, but then again, she wouldn’t have thought Nora would disappear completely from her life either.

“Hey. You’re in your own little world.” Rosalie came up alongside her as they entered the dorm.

“Sorry. Long day.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve seen you in the distance a couple of times, but not close enough to shout. Are you okay? You’ve been really scarce.”

“I-I’m fine, why?” Had Rosalie heard or noticed something?

“Because you’re starting to remind me and Betty of our ghost-friend, Nora.”

Mary’s step faltered at the mention of Nora’s name before she caught herself. What did she mean by that? Is Nora all right? She knew she couldn’t ask it out loud, although she badly wanted to.

“You’ve both lost a lot of weight, you look like heck, and neither one of you has shown up at a dance, or the bowling alley, or even at the movies. They must be working you really hard over there.”

“Yeah, they are.” Mary smiled in relief. So, Nora hadn’t been out running around with that boy after all. She was moping too. Thank God.

“Say, why don’t you come dancing with us tomorrow night? Betty’s got her eye on a fella and she wants back-up.”

“I’d love to, but I can’t. I’ve got to work.” It was only a small white lie. She did have to work tomorrow, just not second shift.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”

“You bet.” Mary waved as she disappeared down her hallway. Once safely inside her room, she slid down the door to the floor and buried her head in her hands. Oh, Nora. I miss you so much. We have to find a way to be together. We can’t go on like this—at least I can’t. What are we going to do?

After several moments of feeling sorry for herself, Mary started to formulate a plan. It worked before, she posited, so why wouldn’t it work again?

It was obvious that Nora was intentionally avoiding Beta-2 whenever Mary was on-shift. Most likely, she was steering clear of the cafeteria in case they should run into each other there, as well. The movie theater probably reminded her too much of their time together. Mary passed on going to the movies for the same reason. Where was the one place almost everybody went on Sunday? The-Chapel-on-the-Hill.