Can phone lines cross?

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This was very weird. A couple of minutes ago I was talking to my friend on the phone and all of a sudden we heard someone start dialing a number and it wasn't my friend who did that. It was someone else.. We weren't on party line either. Anyways, after the dialing stopped I heard faintly a lady say "Hello, is Tim there?". And a man responded. "Yes, your speakin' to him." She then introduced herself and said "This is Claudia from Petaluma Elementry school, I'm just calling to report that your kid never showed up after lunch break to the class.." , anyways she went on and I said "Hello?" like four times and they could not hear me, like I was invisible. Does anyone know why this happens? My mom told me that this happened all the time back in the day but not as much anymore.. what is going on?