Page 15 (1/2)

"Could you spell Glen Severn, please?"

The wooodbye

The telephone company had no record of a Jeffries in Glen Severn, Pennsylvania

MISS SHERIDAN'S, she had written In Connecticut She had no idea where it was in Connecticut Or whether anyone would be there in July Natalie called the Branford Public Library; they checked their reference books, and located Miss Sheridan's for her, in Westgarden, Connecticut Inforave her the number

She poured another Coke, took off her shoes, stretched her feet, and dialed Miss Sheridan's with the fingers on her other hand crossed

"Miss Sheridan's School, hello" Funny, the change in inflections, Natalie thought Miss Sheridan's must be a classy place The woh the lies again Looking for a cousin she'd lost track of Julie Jeffries Would have graduated in, oh, probably 1962

The woman was cheerful and friendly "Well," she said, "you've called the right person I'm the alu irls' faces with long dark hair and straight bangs

"Hello there" Three syllables again "Yes, I have it here Julie Jeffries I got out the 1962 yearbook, too, so that I could look her up She did graduate that year Goodness, wasn't she a pretty thing? It says under her picture that her ambition was to be a irls from Miss Sheridan's I wonder if she succeeded

"I'h, that we have no current address for her She siirls just don't, you know They marry, or take a job, and lose interest--"

"What's the last address you have?"

"Let me see That would be Glen Severn, Pennsylvania Perhaps her family still lives there, and you could call the up

She sat by the telephone for a long ti in spaces on the paper with circles and lines You get alht, frustrated, and then you're not there at all, like one of those drea farther and farther away

I should just give up I don't knohat else to try She doesn't want to be found

Dumb, Paul had said You should have tried the church

Well, thought Natalie, when in doubt or trouble, turn to the church She called inforot the number of the town's only Episcopal church

"Saint Bartholoht Natalie Or a hy lost?)

She launched into her playscript of lies Their name was Jeffries I'ht perhaps--

The woaret! Goodness, I got a card froht here on my desk--Do you want her address, or her phone nuulped "Let ht person, please This is Mrs Clement Jeffries--"

"Yes, I know, dear We've been friends for a long time Oh, I hated to see her move away Goodness, Julie was aret just--"

"Oh, wait I'm sorry to interrupt you But actually, it's Julie that I' for Do you by any chance--"

"Oh, I'm sorry I don't have Julie's address But here, I'll tell you how to reach Margaret, and then she can tell you how to get in touch with Julie"

"Thank you" Natalie picked up her pen again, and wrote it down carefully as the woaret Jeffries was back in Detroit Back where she had lived before they caht Julie to Simmons' Mills to live Before Julie

She wrote it down, drew a box around it, drew arrows pointing to the box, thanked the woaret Jeffries, realized it was her own grandmother, burst into tears, and couldn't pick up the telephone again

24

THE PHONE RANG in the kitchen while they were at dinner, and Dr Ar to watch television tonight It can't be for me"

"Not for me," said Nancy, with her mouth full "Steve's et it," said Kay Ar down her fork "And whoever it's for owesfavor"

They could hear her soft voice in the kitchen, talking for a long ti replaced Then silence

"Mo back?"

Heras a blind person does, carefully, through fa She sat back down

"It's Tallie," she said, in a voice sht--"

She took a deep breath "It's such a surprise I just always thought of Tallie as--oh, Alden, she's very ill That was a doctor in Bar Harbor

"Let me try to remember exactly what he said It was such a shock Tallie