“I guess I would like to know about my daughter.”
“Is she dead?”
I was shocked by his question. “No, she is with the nuns.”
“Did you give her up to the nuns because you didn’t love her?”
“Of course not! She is only a baby, barely one year old. I was just too tired most of the time to take proper care of her. And her father was very ill. We didn’t want her to get sick.”
“My mother and father beat me, so I ran away and stole a rowboat. Then a wave washed me overboard. It took a week to find me. They were very sorry then. They beat me for stealing five francs from the cash drawer at the bakery. But it wasn’t me that stole it. It was my brother. He’d always been the favorite one, anyway. I suppose he is happier without me.”
I ruffled his hair, still stiff with salt. “I am sure they miss
