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ABRAHAM LINCOLN
1809-1865
Information carved into the walls indicated what auxiliary entombments there
had been in this room.
MARY TODD LINCOLN
1818-1882
EDWARD (Eddie) BAKER LINCOLN
1846-1850
WILLIAM (Willie) WALLACE LINCOLN
1850-1862
THOMAS (Tad) LINCOLN
1853-1871
"Poor guy didn't have very good luck with his family," Jerry observed. "Two of
his kids died before he did. One didn't live much
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Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact longer."
"No." Jan was almost whispering, as if the family had been her personal
friends. There was no doubt that she was moved. "No, neither he nor his wife
had very good luck that way."
They drove out through the iron gates of the cemetery shortly before closing
time, and only a few minutes later were back in the heart of town. Jan dropped
Jerry in front of his hotel; they had agreed to meet in the lobby in an hour
to discuss dinner arrangements.
As Jerry showered he thought to himself that he still had learned next to
nothing about the Pilgrim Foundation, its organization, financing, goals and
methods. Obviously its people somehow planned to glean something from the past
by using their tripod machines and a computer network. But his hosts had been
avoiding his questions on that subject all day. Well, probably they were
waiting until he was confirmed as an employee and had signed something giving
them legal protection against his disclosure of their secrets. That was all
right with Jerry. He'd do the same, he supposed. But he was growing ever more
curious and impatient.
Jan was sitting and waiting for him in the lobby when he came down, promptly
on time. She had changed into what he supposed ought to be called an evening
dress, of startling red. It looked beautiful on her, and there was nothing at
all about it to suggest the nineteenth century. "I'm hungry," she greeted him.
"Do you like
Italian food?"
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"One of my favorites."
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Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact
Jan said she knew a good place within walking distance of the hotel.
He was moderately impressed when they reached the place; more evidence that
the Foundation was not going to stint on its expense account. When they were
asked if they wanted anything from the bar before dinner, Jerry hesitated at
first. He was not ordinarily a teetotaler, nor very much of a drinker either.
But when Jan immediately ordered a vodka martini he decided this wasn't part
of the test, and went along with a better conscience when she launched into a
story involving Pilgrim's preference for something called akvavit
. The story raised in Jerry's mind the question of just what relationship
existed between Jan Chen and Pilgrim, other than that of employee and
employer. So far he had no sense that there was any.
Food arrived, custom-designed pizzas, served with class upon good dishes.
Chianti was available and therefore seemed called for as an
accompaniment Jerry had absorbed this as an article of faith during his early
college years, and Jan expressed a willingness to be converted.
They ate, sipped wine, and talked. Jan, it appeared, had been born in
California and had grown up in San Francisco. In Chinatown? Jerry wondered.
But he didn't as yet feel quite sure enough of himself to ask her that.
He had spent the earlier part of his own childhood in one of the smaller, more
distant and less affluent suburbs of Chicago. Then, when he was about ten
years old, his parents, had been able to move to the more affluent Lombard.
"Every spring they have a Lilac Festival there it's pretty famous. It
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Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact reminded me of that today, when I saw the
lilacs out at New Salem."
" 'When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed ' ", Jan quoted. It was really
marvelous, how daintily she could eat pizza, and what a respectable amount
this technique allowed her to put away. "That's
Walt Whitman. It has something to do with Lincoln too."
"Oh." Jerry felt a certain sadness. "I haven't had a lot of time to look into
poetry."
His companion looked sympathetic. "In your field I can understand that. It
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