At My Mother’s Funeral a Priest Told Me My Name Was Not Real and Gave Me a Key That Changed Everything

way they told you.”

For a second I thought he meant Thomas. Then I understood he did not.

“His name was Daniel Mercer,” he continued.

I knew that name. Of course I knew it. He was on my original birth certificate, the one I had never actually seen, the existence of which I had never thought to question.

“He drowned,” I said. “Lake Lanier. I was two.”

“That’s continue reading …