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Irene and I sat with our heads bent together, er information she had This took a little over one minute and covered race (Caucasian), sex (female), military service (none), Social Security number (none), marital status (ed), occupation (retired), and several subheadings under "Usual Residence" What distressed Irene was that she didn’t know the year of her mother’s birth and she didn’t have a clue about where Agnes was born or the names of her parents, facts she felt anyone with an ounce of caring should have at her fingertips

"Quit beating yourself, for God’s sake," I said "Let’s work backward and see how fat we get Maybe you knowshe was eighty-three, right?"

Irene nodded with uncertainty, probably wishing the form had a few itated at the notion of her own ignorance

"Irene, you cannot flunk this test," I said "Ito do, refuse to bury her?" I hated to be flip, but I thought it ht snap her out of the self-pity

She said, "I just don’t want to get it wrong It’s iht It’s the least I can do"

"I can understand that, but the world will not end if you leave one slot blank We know she was a US citizen so let’s put that down… The rest of the information we can pick up from your birth certificate That would tell us your parents’ place of birth and their ages the year you were born Can you lay your hands on it?"

She nodded, blowing her nose on a handkerchief, which she then tucked in her robe pocket "I to almost sure it’s in the file cabinet in there," she said She indicated the solarium, which she’d set up as a home office "There’s a folder in the top drawer labeled ’Vital Docuet up You stay here I’ll find it"

I went into the next room and pulled open one of the file drawers "Vital Docuht the entire file back and let Irene sort through the contents She extracted a birth certificate, which she handed to lanced at it briefly, then squinted inal?"

"I have no idea That’s the only one I ever had"

"What about when you applied for a passport? You must have had a certified copy then"

"I don’t have a passport I never needed one"

I stared at her, aht I was the only person without a passport," I remarked

She seemed faintly defensive "I don’t like to travel I was always afraid of getting ill and not having proper medical help available If Clyde had to travel overseas on business, he went by hiuess was that she and Clyde had argued about her position more than once

"No, no This will do, but it strikes me as odd How’d you come by this one?"

She closed her mouth and her cheeks flooded with pink, like a sudden restoration to good health At first, I thought she wouldn’t answer ave it toraphies for an honors English class and the teacher made us start with our birth certificates I re ave ot… which just ht it to school the next day and flung it in the teacher’s face She was drunk, of course Allthings I’ve ever been through"

I studied her with curiosity "What about your father? Where was he in all this?"

"I don’t remember him He and Mother separated when I was three or four He was killed in the war a few years later Nineteen forty-three, I think"

I glanced down at the birth certificate, getting back to the task at hand We’d really hit pay dirt Irene was born in Brawley, March 12, 1936, at 2:30 ae thirty-torked as a welder for an aircraft cones’s maiden name was Branwell, birthplace California, occupation housewife

"This is great," I said and then I read the next line "Oh wait, this is weird This says she enty-three when you were born, but that would ht"

"That has to be a typo," she said, leaning closer She reached for the document and peered at the line of print as I had "This is off by years If Mother’s eighty-three now, she would have been thirty-six when I was born, not twenty-three"