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". . . every minute of life is education,
especially if you live in
interesting times."

Elizabeth Daniels Squire

At The Family Reunion

The Mark of Murder!" squealed Janet Mars. I call her Janet the Planet. She goes into orbit. A few name tricks, along with rhymes and such, help me remember who's who.

"What's this about the Mark of Murder?" Pop called out--more like shouted--from the next table. Trust Pop to hear anything that might make life more exciting. My heart sank.

"The Mark of Murder," Fern announced to one and all, "is the old name for a single line across your palm. Most folks have a lower line we call the head line and an upper line we call the heart line. When one line goes up and joins the other, that's the Mark." Fern took a sip of her iced tea, charm bracelets jangling.

I looked at my hands. I couldn't help it. Yes, I had two horizontal lines, no way merged.

The folks near us held out their palms in front of them, too--quite an assortment of kin, from young Janet the Planet to Cousin Toto (rhymes with photo) Small, the photographer.

Cousin Arthur, the baby-doctor, chirped up next to Pop. "One horizontal line instead of two is a sign of Down's syndrome." Pop sat up ramrod straight in his wheelchair and glared at him. "Not in our family!"

Janet screamed. "I've got it! I've got the Mark of Murder! But I never--and I certainly wouldn't . . . !" Oh, brother.

"Of course not," Fern said calmly but plainly savoring the furor she was causing. And I admit I didn't do a thing to stop it.

"What that mark actually means, in the opinion of modern hand-readers, is not that the person might be tempted to commit murder, as the old books say." Fern paused to let us digest that. "It simply means a strong streak of originality. In fact, depending on the other marks in the hand, it might be on the hand of an inventor. Henry Wallace, who developed hybrid corn and was once Vice President, had a mark kind of like that." Fern was being her factual broker self, full of details. "Henry Miller, the novelist, had a line like that," She paused and looked thoughtful. "Though his line wasn't exactly the same."

"I've looked at the hands of about thirty of us," Fern announced. "We'd find more Marks of Murder, no doubt, if we looked at more. Just like you have Great Uncle John's eagle nose," she said to Pop, "or your Grandma Bessie's twinkly eyes," she said to me, "hand-markings run in families, too. And even if we weren't all related, whenever a group of people get together with a common interest, you'll find a lot of the same marks."

"Let's find out if this mark shows something special about our family." Pop waved his arm grandly to take in all of us. "If it does, then we will find many more of these marks in the hands of the members here. Isn't that right, Fern?"

Fern nodded her blonde curls. "Absolutely," she said. "You wait and see!"

One member of the family expected at the reunion has not come.
That's Peaches' pretty young cousin, Kim.

Later on a somber note: