iXHS - information express by helter skelter


issue 12
about a mystery box
by jade falcon
                                
                                ***

        OK, I live just outside of Russell. Stanley Cr. to be exact, and
that is probably considered a pretty rural area. Anyways, at the intersection
of Hamilton Rd. and Route 100, there is a large group of brown and green boxes.
Me and my friend Rebel were out biking around when we spotted them. Thinking
nothing of it, I went over to take a look.

        The boxes are based on a large concrete slab about 2.5 m by 2.5 m.
There was a large box about the size of one of those group mail boxes, you know,
the ones that have boxes for whole sections. Anyways, that one had a really big
padlock on it, with a specialized keyhole. I didn't bother with that because I
wouldn't know how to get/make a key to fit it. The real important box was the
tall thin green one. It has a little flap of metal with hinges on the top. When
opened, there was a panel with 3 switches. Each switch said on/off. The 2 littlest
ones i don't know what they are, but the biggest one puzzled me. Why would bell
(because thats who put them there) put un unlocked box in the middle of nowhere
with a big switch with ON/OFF on it? That's just asking for trouble. :) Anyways,
I flipped the switch a few times, remembering to put it back to ON after I was
done, and nothing happened... this was strange. I thought it might turn off one
of the other boxes, but it didn't.

        On my way to soccer practice that night, I asked my dad<bell employee>
about the boxes. He said that the one with the lock on it was the phone lines
for my ENTIRE CRESCENT and the one with the switch was this:

        When you call someone else, your voice gets converted to electrical
pulses and then converted again to voice at the recieving end. What this switch
does is simply turns off the second conversion. So all you can't here the other
person. But this is only for my area, so if I were to call you, i could hear you,
but you couldn't hear me. So after that, I didn't flip that switch anymore,
because I like my telephone, :) but I still want to know if you can get a key
for those specialized locks!!!

end file.