I got to thinking about this this other day--if Miss Birdie was eighty-four in Signs in the Blood, how old is she now? When I wrote Signs, I just pulled that number out of the air. Eighty-four seemed so very old, compared to Elizabeth's, what was it, fifty-four, I think. (As I recall, I originally made Elizabeth my age--at the time, sixty-four--but decided to make her ten years younger, fearing to have the book branded as Matron Lit.)
Now, twenty-some years later and only a year away from eighty myself, I'm closer in age to the Birdie of Signs than I am to the Elizabeth. Funny how that happens. (But please don't call me Miss Vicki.)
There are several books I've read and re-read over the past seventy-odd years that have made me aware of my shifting empathy with various characters. As I've aged, the generic unhappy/angry/idealistic young daughter has become less interesting to me than the generic cranky mother whose unspoken past may explain her difficult personality.
But I digress. How old is Birdie? I took a look at the opening of The Day of Small Things. Says right there Least/Birdie was born in 1922. Which makes her 100 this year. But the month isn't given. And there's no vegetation to hint at time of year, just those brooding dark hemlocks. The cabin door is open so it must be a warm time --May, June, July? I guess I'll have to talk to Birdie to find out the date. Or maybe someone versed in astrology could suggest a suitable birthdate for this redoubtable woman.
