Chapter 12

Disappointed, he returned to the cemetery and dug up three of the stones. Looking around once more, he spotted an elderly woman placing flowers on a gravestone. Walking over to her, and using the Italian his grandfather had taught him, he addressed her.

“Buongiorno. I am visiting from America. My great grandparents are buried here, and my grandparents were from this town. I am just wondering if you knew them.” He took the envelope with the return address of his great grandparents out of his pocket and showed it to her.

With some difficulty, given the bright sun, she looked at it, then broke into a smile. “Si, si, of course. They lived just three houses down from me. They were such a nice couple. Married sixty years, I believe. They missed their son—your grandfather—and always talked about going to America to visit. But they were never able to. And they were always showing me pictures of their grandson. That must have been your father!”