Several people wanted to know why the Tusks invited Carl’s parents to the christening. The answer is that in many churches baptisms are not held as separate ceremonies unless specifically requested. Often they are a part of the regular liturgy, though you have to ask the priest or preacher ahead of time so he can prepare. The entire congregation is invited to watch and welcome the new child to the parish. All three of my kids were christened this way, and that was in several different churches. In effect, you simply insert the baptism into the middle of the program, usually before the communion and sermon.
Several people gave me some more charities Carl should donate to or know about. Two of the obvious ones were the USO and the 82nd Airborne’s College Fund. The absolute truth is that I have them already written into future chapters, along with several others.
That brings me to a different topic. Every once in a while I get a note saying, “How could you forget…” and listing something from the time period. There are two answers to that. First, maybe they just weren’t important to Carl and Marilyn at the time. Second, and more likely, I forgot them! That’s the problem with writing historical fiction. Something might be important at the time to the characters, but 28 years later I forgot about it.
A final note on the drinking while pregnant controversy, such that it is. I got an interesting email from a reader: “Heh! I have actually met several pregnant OB/GYNs who regularly drank a glass of wine with dinner during late pregnancy and would wholeheartedly recommend it to their stressed out patients to unwind so long as they could be trusted not to get carried away. When asked about the apparent medical hypocrisy they just explained that the threshold for fetal harm was definitely greater than the occasional drink but no sane doctor was going to risk the potentially astronomic liability of stating on the record that X drinks were "safe", plus it might actually vary from person to person.” Probably the best explanation I have heard! Thanks!