She Heard Nothing novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Line That Said Unknown
The county records office had a counter, a ticket machine, and a clerk with reading glasses on a chain.
It was a Saturday morning in November, and the room was empty except for us.
Lottie had come along to hold my coat and my nerves, in that order.
"I've decided I'm a witness," she said, low. "If anyone asks, I was here the whole time, and I saw everything, and I'm very reliable."
"Nobody is going to ask."
"That's what a reliable witness would say."
The clerk slid a blue folder under the glass.
"Abigail Wrenfield?" she said. "I have your amended record. I'll need you to look it over and tell me if the information is correct."
I opened the folder with two fingers.
It was a single certified page, stamped, with a raised seal that I could feel through the paper.
Name of child: Abigail Wrenfield.
Date of birth: the fourth of March.
Place of birth: St. Anne's Hospital.
Mother: Marilyn Teague.
The line that had said unknown for twenty years was gone.
I read it three times, and the third time I put my finger under the name, because the letters would not stay still.
"Is it right?" the clerk asked gently.
"The spelling is right."
"And the rest?"
"It's all right," I said.
Lottie made a very small noise beside me and pretended it was a sneeze.
The clerk waited a moment.
Then she cleared her throat and opened a second folder.
"There's a form here for the name. A person in your position can keep the name on the adoption or change it. Most people are sure before they come in."
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