A Satin Christening Gown Hidden Away in a Texas Cedar Chest

I gave her the year of birth, 1929, and the date she died in her chair.

I listed my father as having died before her.

The clerk typed as I talked, the heavy keys clacking in my ear like little hammers on an anvil.

She stopped to ask for a billing address, and I gave her the house number on Elm Street.

“And the surviving family,” I said.

“Go right ahead, hon.”

“Survived by her daughter, Ona Bradley of Deer Park. Survived by her granddaughter, Sarah Rountree.”

The typing stopped.