About the Author:
Michael Mewshaw is the best-selling author of ten novels (Shelter from the Storm, etc) and six previous books of nonfiction (Life for Death, Ladies of the Court, etc). He has won awards for fiction, travel writing, investigative reporting and sports journalism. Hundreds of his articles and reviews have appeared in the NY Times, the Washington Post, LA Times, Playboy and other newspapers and magazines around the world. His work has been translated into a dozen languages. He and his wife Linda live in Key West in winter and in London in summer.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
In California, where it was mid-morning, Amy answered the phone at work. I had
hoped to ring her at a home number. It wasn’t just that I preferred to speak to her in
privacy. I liked to imagine her as a mother in a domestic setting, fulfilled, secure. Yet
even in an office, with colleagues nearby, she sounded friendly and relaxed, and assured
me that this was a good time to talk. After a bit of preliminary throat clearing—profuse
thanks for calling, apologies for probing—she got down to her questions.
“Have you ever lived in LA?” she asked.
“Yes. A long time ago.”
“In 1964? I was born on Christmas Eve that year.”
“Yes, I was in California then.”
“I know this is awfully sudden and may come as a shock, but I have reason to
believe you’re my biological father.”
“An hour ago you told my half-sister you believed she was your mother.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“How sure are you about me?”
Amy didn’t answer directly. Perhaps my question struck her as aggressive, and she
wanted to avoid any hint of confrontation. Every bit as sweet and lovely as Karen had
described her, she volunteered information about herself. She told me she had been born
at California Lutheran Hospital. She named the doctor who delivered her and specified
the time of her delivery and her birth weight. The Children’s Home Society of California,
she said, had handled her adoption and she had grown up in the Valley. Now in her
early thirties, she had had a first marriage that didn’t last. It looked likely she would
marry again soon, and since she hoped to have kids, she needed to learn about her family
and their medical history.
“That’s my primary motivation,” Amy said. “I’m not looking for somebody to be
my parent. I had a wonderful mother and father and a happy childhood. I don’t want
to barge into anybody else’s life or upset you and your family. I’m not expecting a public
acknowledgement of paternity. I’d just like to meet you and find my mother, but if that’s
not possible, I’ll be satisfied with some background information and a medical history.”
When I asked Amy what she looked like, she said, “I’m five feet seven and weigh a
hundred and twenty eight pounds. My hair’s straight and dark brown, and my eyes are
brown too.”
“Tell him you resemble Sandra Bullock,” someone at her end shouted.
Amy laughed. “That’s on a good day and in good light. But you get the picture.”
Indeed, it was a picture deeply familiar to me. Still, I hesitated to admit this or anything
else.
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