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ALICE TEETER The 103rd Birthday of Emma Regina Degraffenreid Smith Great-granddaughter Molly—Annie and Robert’s daughter I was four years old when we came to the Inner Passage. It’s heaven here. I don’t remember anything from before. My favorite things are fishing and blueberry season. I go alone! Mom says that Granny Em is my first love. Then Granny Em says “And I’ll be your first broken heart.” Hurray, Hurray, Hurray! You’re 103 years old today! Great-grandson Tommy—Annie and Robert’s son Big deal. So she’s 103 years old today. She’s just wrinkled and old. It’s not like a rite of passage. When we left Los Angeles it broke my heart. I’d never even been out of the city before. I have a girl friend there and we are mad in love. Plus there’s no TV here. I miss baseball season. Great-grandson Cadmus—Reggie’s son There is no TV here and I miss LA and its one season. I can’t believe Granny Em is 103 years old today. I thought I would hate it here, but there’s things I love. Last week we saw a bunch of whales out in the Passage! And I heard there was a tidal wave here once before, but if we moved back to LA it wouldn’t break my heart. Great-granddaughter Phaedra—Reggie’s daughter If we move back to LA again it won’t break my heart. The absolute worst thing here is the winter season. I do like this house better than the apartment we were in before. And it’s really nice that we could come over to town today. Last time we came Tommy ran away, he’d booked his passage. Oh, I told my Aunt and Granny Em about my new pen-pal love. Granddaughter Reggie I told Annie and Granny Em about Lewis, my new love. I never thought that I’d be willing to risk my heart. Although these days divorce is like a rite of passage. I think we’ll be married by the end of fishing season. It would make him happy if we could marry today. I told him I won’t be rushed like I was before. AMERICANA 18 Grandson-in-law Robert—married to Annie I told Tommy we are going to do things like before. You can’t go rushing off, leave those you love. We are going to have a good time here today. There’s a birthday cake with a big blue heart. Pretty soon we’ll start the long winter season and he’ll have to stay. He can’t cross the Passage. Granddaughter Annie We thought we’d lose Granny Em in the passage over or before. She is in her winter season, but she has all this love. It’s her strong, strong heart that keeps her with us today. Great-grandson Pericles Emmanuel—Reggie’s son My dad was my mom’s second husband. He’s the one she says is drinking himself to death. He got mean and violent and we had to get out. I’ve talked to him, but I haven’t seen him since. I want to go visit. Mom says “we’ll see.” I know if I go back he won’t be the same. Great-grandson Paris—Reggie’s son Nothing on the island ever changes. It’s always the same. I’m glad my mom has found another man to be her husband. For me there’s nowhere to meet people and nothing to see. I hate it out there and I’m always bored to death. You’d think we would take the boat over here more since there’s no grocery stores and we’re always running out. Great-granddaughter Ariadne—Reggie’s daughter There’s no grocery stores, but I love running out in the woods for mushrooms. They don’t all look the same! We moved away from LA and it’s been great ever since. I don’t miss Creepy Joe—that’s what I call mom’s last husband. She says he is trying to drink himself to death. Whether he does or not we’ll have to wait and see. Great grandson Carleton—Annie and Roberts’ son Whether we can stay here we don’t know, we’ll have to see. Mom could lose her job, then we’d have to get out...

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