Her reading glasses sat on top of her gray hair, and she was carrying a thick blue document folder stamped with an official state seal.

“The state vital statistics registrar signed off on the court order an hour ago,” Arlene said, her brisk clerk’s voice full of quiet warmth.

“The fraudulent 1990 death certificate has been formally vacated and wiped from the state system.”

She opened the blue folder on the broad marble counter in front of us.

Inside was a crisp sheet of heavy white bond paper with the gold-embossed seal of the State of Michigan.

Printed across the top were the words Corrected Certificate of Live Birth.