At midnight, Nora felt the bed move as Mary poured herself into it after her shift. She rolled toward her and kissed her. “Welcome home.”

“What are you doing up? You couldn’t have gotten home much before me.”

“We’ve had so little time together lately, I wanted to be awake for you when you got here.”

“You’ve been burning the candle at both ends over there, sweetheart. They’re working you too hard.”

“It’s the nature of the job. More racetracks in operation equals more cubicle operators, equals more work for Nora. It’s a math problem.”

“It’s a sleep problem, if you ask me.”

Nora turned on her back and invited Mary to snuggle against her shoulder. “Get some sleep.”

“You first.”

The shrill sound of the alarm clock startled them both awake. Nora grabbed it and turned it off, but the ringing continued.

“The phone. It’s the phone,” Mary mumbled.

Nora bolted out of bed and ran into the living room to answer it. “Hello?”

“Dr. Lindstrom? G.G. and E.L. are here. They’d like to meet with you.”

Dr. Lawrence and General Groves were here? She hadn’t known they were coming. She looked at her watch. It was 3:23 a.m.

“I can be there in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll let them know.”

She stripped off her nightgown and jumped into the shower. When she got out, Mary was standing there, her arms crossed and a dour expression on her face.

“What are you doing?”

“I have to go.”

“It’s three thirty in the morning. You barely just got to sleep.”

“I know.” Nora applied her makeup and selected a dress Mary had picked out for her at a department store in Knoxville last week.

“You’re getting awfully dolled up for a meeting.”

“I don’t have time to explain. Please, let me finish getting ready.”

“Is it your family? Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“Then, what? I could go with you and help you with whatever it is.”

“Absolutely not. Mary, please, go back to bed. There’s no need for both of us to be awake.” She kissed her briefly, scooped up her attaché case, and hustled out the door.

There were several men on the bus with her. She didn’t recognize any of them, but she felt a kinship to them. They all looked as sleep-deprived as she was.

When she exited the bus, she was surprised to see that they got off too. And when they headed in the direction of the administration building at Y-12 along with her, she became downright curious. What was going on? Had they all been summoned for this meeting?

She announced herself to the secretary in the reception area.

“Have a seat, Dr. Lindstrom. They’ll be ready for you shortly.”