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I hold up my hands in surrender "You’re not I’m done This is a lost cause"

Maps are taken out Metro routes are debated Picnic items are discussed

"People mix up their patron saints, you know?" I look up Wren, our pixie tagalong, who has been all but silent all day, has finally spoken

"They do?"

She nods "Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things But Saint Jude is the patron saint of lost causes You have to ht saint for help"

There’s a ious nut?

"Who would be in charge of a lost person?" I ask

Wren stops to consider "That would depend What kind of lost?"

I don’t know I don’t know if he’s lost at all Maybe he’s exactly where he wants to be Maybe I’ someone who has no desire to be found "I’ the charms "Perhaps you should just pray to both" She shows me the little charms with each patron saint There are many more charms, one with a date, another with a clover, one with a bird

"But I’m Jewish"

"Oh, they don’t care" Wren looks up at me Her eyes don’t seem blue so much as the absence of blue Like the sky just before dawn "You should ask the saints for help And you should go to that third hospital"

Hôpital Saint-Louis turns out to be a four-hundred-year-old hospital Wren and Ithat sits adjacent I’ve sent the others on to Luxeht filters in through the glass atriuht onto the floor

It’s quiet in the ER, only a few people sitting aht up to the two male nurses behind the desk and that weirdly mellifluous voice of hers breaks out in perfect French I stand behind her, catching enough of what she says to get that she is tellingthe in to hear her quiet voice I have no idea how Wren even knows the story; I didn’t tell her Maybe she picked it up at breakfast or a the others She finishes, and there is silence The nurses stare at her, then look down and start typing

"How do you speak French so well?" I whisper

"I’m from Quebec"

"Why didn’t you translate at the other hospital?"

"Because it wasn’t the right one"

The nurses ask me his name I say it I spell it I hear the tap of the computer keys as they input it

"Non," one nurse says "Pas ici" He shakes his head

"Attendez," the other says Wait

He types sos to Wren, and I lose track, but then one phrase floats to the top: a date The day after the day Willeot separated

My breath stops He looks up, repeats the date to me

"Yes," I say That would’ve been when he was here "Oui"

The nurse says so else I don’t understand I turn to Wren "Can they tell us how to find him?"

Wren asks a questions, then translates back "The records are sealed"

"But they don’t have to give us anything written Theyon hi department now They don’t keepNow’s the tiers the charm on her bracelet A pair of doctors in scrubs and lab coats coh the double doors, coffee cups in hand Wren and I look at each other, Saint Jude apparently deciding to bestoin inspiration

"Can I speak to a doctor?" I ask the nurses in my horrible French "Maybe the" I turn to Wren "How do you say ‘attending physician’ in French? Or the doctor who treated Willelish because he rubs his chin and goes back to the computer "Ahh, Dr Robinet," he says, and picks up a phone A fewopen, and it’s like this time Saint Jude decided to send us a bonus, because the doctor is TV-handsome: curly salt-and-pepper hair, a face that’s both delicate and rugged Wren starts to explain the situation, but then I realize that, lost cause or not, I have to inable, I attempt to explain: Friend hurt At this hospital Lost friend Need to find I’m frazzled, and with my bare-basics phrases, I must sound like a cavewoman

Dr Robinet looks at h the double doors into an eestures for us to sit on the table while he settles on a rolling stool

"I understand your dilelish "But we can’t just give out files about a patient" He turns to look directly at reen, both sharp and kind "I understand you’ve come all the way from America, but I am sorry"

"Can you at least tellinto his chart? Would that be breaking protocol?"

Dr Robinet smiles patiently "I see dozens of patients a day And this was, you say, a year ago?"

I nod "Yes" I bury my head in my hands The folly of it hits me anew One day One year