She needed a radio. She needed to get home, see Mary, and they could listen to the radio together. She ran out and down to the bus stop, jumped on the first bus she saw and was on her way.

Out the windows, she could see workers pouring out of buildings and swarming the street. As they got closer to the bus depot, even more townsfolk lined the wooden walkways. Everyone was hugging and cheering. They pulled into the bus depot and it was pandemonium.

Nora fought her way through the crowd. All she could think about was getting home to Mary to tell her the war most likely was over, they’d won, and she’d helped make it happen—they both had.

“Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.” She pushed against the tide of humanity until she was in the clear. Then she ran all the way to 105 Georgia Avenue and flung open the door.

“Mary! Mary! Did you hear?” When she got no reply, she ran through every room. Then she remembered, Mary would’ve gone to Jackson Square to run errands.

She checked her watch. It was almost noon. She headed for the door, changed her mind, spun around in a circle, headed for the door again, and changed her mind one last time. She flipped on the radio and stood in front of it.

“At 11:00 a.m. Eastern War Time, President Harry Truman, in a statement delivered at sea, announced that the United States unleashed the fury of the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August sixth, at 8:20 a.m. local time… That’s some seventeen hours ago.

“According to the president, the bomb contained more power than twenty thousand tons of TNT.”

Nora put a hand to her mouth. It had been even more powerful than anything she could’ve imagined. It would’ve decimated an entire city.

The announcer continued. “The president’s statement goes on to say—paraphrasing here—that secret sites, including Oak Ridge, near Knoxville, Tennessee, Richland near Pasco, Washington, and Los Alamos, near Santa Fe, New Mexico, have been working for more than two years on the materials to produce this bomb, and that it was the facility in Oak Ridge that played the principal role in the creation of this, the most powerful weapon ever used in war.”

Outside the window, Nora heard shouts of joy. Should she wait here for Mary? No. If Mary was in Jackson Square, she’d find her. Just in case they missed each other, though, she should leave her a note.

She found a notecard and a pen.

My dearest, darling Mary,