the telephones were beginning to wink
Doesn't that imply that they were not winking prior to that?
John's question is solid;
"why would people wanting to order school books from across the state of Texas stop calling because a motorcade was coming near her building? "
You are not making any sense....
the telephones were beginning to winkDoesn't that imply that they were not winking prior to that?Why, yes. Yes it does. That is the point. BTW, I wonder if you considered that the old analog phones were powered from the phone company's end office via the phone line. They weren't powered by building power. Therefore, the lack phonalicious winkie winke has no bearing as to the state of building power.
John's question is solid;
"why would people wanting to order school books from across the state of Texas stop calling because a motorcade was coming near her building? "
Who said that all of the calls would have been incoming? For that matter, who said that
any of the calls would by necessity have been incoming? And who said that the TSBD would have been constantly peppered by incoming calls?