“My guess is he told them the procedure could endanger their daughter’s life. And I’ll bet some parents didn’t care and found themselves another doctor because for a certain genre of alleged human being, stigma trumps everything.”

Her response was to saw a cube of Jell-O.

I said, “When the babies were born, Jimmy’s involvement didn’t end. Just the opposite, he took care of everything. With the help of Eleanor Green, a compassionate soul who loved kids. Exactly the type of person who should become a nurse.”

“Ellie,” she said. A liver-spotted hand rose to her breast.

I said, “Ellie and you. Maybe others.”

“Army of the just,” she said. “We were a little battalion of … idealistic meddlers.” She put down her fork. “After Dachau, I felt I needed to.”

I touched her hand. She pulled away. “Are you satisfied, Alex?”

“Sometimes Jimmy delivered the babies, sometimes you did. When the infants were up to the journey, they were transferred to Ellie’s care. In a big house in a nice neighborhood that Jimmy rented for that purpose. After being medically screened for a few months, they were given to families who wanted them. People who’d been screened. Not official adoptions, everything had to be off the record.”

“Thirty-three,” she said. “That’s how many we placed. People all over the country. Thirty-three adults who have no idea.”

“Thirty-three minus one,” I said. “What happened?”

Shaking her head, she got up. I expected her to leave but she walked to the hot-water urn, filled a fresh cup, unwrapped a tea bag, watched it dangle.

When she returned to the table, I said, “Salome, I’m sorry if—”

“Crib death. That’s what we called it then, later we got fancy, the way we always do, and it became sudden infant death syndrome. That didn’t explain what caused it but it sounded more scientific, no? Nowadays we have our theories but we still don’t really understand it. We do know how to prevent a significant amount of it.”

“Sleeping on the back, never the stomach.”

She smiled. “All those babies with flat heads, parents get all exercised, thinking their little gift’s going to grow up looking funny and not get into Harvard. I tell them relax, stop worrying about stupid things.”

She shook her head. “No sleeping on the tummy, so simple. That’s how she—how Ellie found him. On his belly, not moving. A boy, boy babies are more vulnerable than girl babies. Maybe that never changes, eh, Alex?”

I said, “You live longer than we do, that’s why we get to postpone our maturity.”

Now her hand rested on mine. “You were always a witty one.”