Chapter 51

Saturday, December 19, 1964

This was a good day, in more ways than one. 

First, Sarah had heard back from her contacts in Texas, They had found a engagement announcement in the local paper for one Bernard John Fox to one Martha Wuerth, a native of Wolterdingen, Germany, in 1919. They had also located Bernard's birth certificate, dated June 10, 1920, with the parents being Bernard and Martha Fox. The Elder Bernard had been an adjunct professor at St. Edward's College until 1935 when he died, an event confirmed by a death certificate. The high school had come through, acknowledging that Bernard Junior had completed his freshman year there in the spring of 1935 but had not re-enrolled for the fall session.

Second, Eli had called me on Thursday afternoon to give me the name of a Nazi hunter based in Chicago who, as he said, would be happy to help. I had called him immediately and arranged to meet him tomorrow. 

Third, Sarah invited me to stay the weekend at the house. I had wondered what I should do, given that the Christmas break had started yesterday and the seminary was a bit ghostly. Only a handful of seminarians were there and about half of the staff. We were closing in on Christmas, and things were a little crazy out there. I wasn't sure what to do, but we had had a fair amount of snow and the seminarians had rigged up a small toboggan run on the hill leading to the lake. Nobody was around, which left the toboggan run to myself, Butch, and Sissy. It was a little odd maybe, but they enjoyed it and so did I. 

Back home we had our family supper, with some discussion of what we had learned about the Fox's background. We were still at the beginning of what we needed to know, but we had started down a good path and we all knew it. Or sensed it. I excused myself to go to a meeting, and there were no complaints. Everyone knew that my going to meetings underpinned all the good things going on at the moment. And I was able to share some of those things at the meeting and after with my sponsor at our favorite diner. 

I didn't get back into the house until after ten, at which point everyone had retired for the night. I watched a bit of the Tonight Show and spread myself out on the sofa for a long winter's nap. I was awakened an hour or so later by a tap on my shoulder and a vision of a tall woman in a stunning nightgown I had never seen before.

"The time is right," she whispered. "Meet me upstairs."