PEACE: Helen and Shirley

About Miss Birkhead: I've had to talk myself out of the idea--more than once--that she and Sherry Gold were the same person. Sherry dies; Den has a stroke. Birkhead dies; Den has a stroke/heart attack/whatever and dies. It's a bit much for coincidence. Birkhead is never described, mention is never made of what, exactly, became of Sherry, and the Sherry is 16 now comment seems to indicate that he knew her when she was past that age. Yes, Birkhead was secretary to Smart before Den (for how long?); yes, she told Den later about how the department heads could tell when Smart was going to make an inspection (how long ago was that?); yes, the death notice said she was married with children (does that make it true?), and her maiden name would seem to be Birkhead, yes, but still . . . still, the notion has its appeal. It can't be true--can it? And a birk is a birch. What can be made of that? Roy