Finding Out What We Find Out

Our original idea for a summer vacation had been to rent a cottage in Maine or New Hampshire. Sam, my oldest son and from my first marriage, spends Augusts in Maine with his mother at their family summer home. The rest of us thought we would all four go up and maybe spend a few days in the Penobscot Bay area learning about sailing from Sam and exploring Maine’s maritime setting. We miss Sam desperately every August. But the cottages we wanted were all reserved during the week available to us. We had waited too long to make reservations. Confronted with this obstacle, I jokingly suggested we drive to Pittsburgh to see a baseball game at the Pirates’ new stadium. Jesse and Conor thought that was a great idea. Then I suggested we go to Missouri to visit my dad. On the way, I said, we could stop in Richmond and go to the library to see if we could find a picture of Dana Black in an old Richmond High School yearbook. Marion liked that idea, but topped it by suggesting, “We drive to Richmond and find out what we find out.”

“What about going to see the Pirates?” Jesse asked.

“Well, let’s go to Pittsburgh first, then,” Marion said. “We’ll spend the weekend in Pittsburgh, then drive on to Richmond. And we’ll find out what we find out.”

“Wow,” Conor chimed. “A picture of her is in a school yearbook at the library all the way out in Indiana?”