Goldfinches and Redpolls

 

Aunt Bev phoned.  She'd received a letter in the mail.  It had a return address but no name and, more importantly, the edge had been sliced off and the envelope was empty.  The address was a road not far from where she had grown up so she wanted to know if I knew who lived at that address.  Fired up the computer, put in the address, and provided her w/ the name Anna Berthold.  Aunt Bev remembered her from when they were both in school but hadn't talked w/ her since those days.  The on-line site included a phone number so I read it off for Aunt Bev and suggested she might call her.  The next day Aunt Bev phoned again.  She'd called Anna but said there was a gruff man who answered the phone and hung up on her.  She asked that I see if everything was all right w/ Anna and she wasn't being held captive.  Not sure if Aunt Bev was kidding but assured her I would call the number later.  When I did call Mrs. Berthold I got a recorded message in a man's voice stating to leave a message.  There was no time to leave a message, the phone just disconnected.  Before I could call back I got a call from Anna herself.  She's 98 years old, a shut-in, and happy to have someone new to talk to.  First, though, she wanted to know who I was.  It was a little like a traditional Navajo greeting where I had to give my mother and father's names and where they had lived and also each of my grandparent's names and where they had come from.    Once comfortable w/ my lineage she let me know she'd returned Aunt Bev's call earlier and they had reminisced about school days.  She feared that the empty envelope was her doing since she sometimes cuts open envelopes to add something else to the letter but this would be the first time she'd sent it w/o resealing it.   I answered all of her questions about my family and then she said my call had been a high spot in her day.  A good day when you can make someone else's day.