The fold across the middle was white from being opened too many times.
A cartoon airplane crossed the front beneath the words HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Its corners had gone soft.
Mrs. Clooney stared at it.
"I wrote that!" she recalled.
"You did."
He opened the card.
Inside, beneath the printed greeting, was a line written in blue ink. The captain read it again.
"Someone is celebrating that you exist today."
"I wrote that!"
Mrs. Clooney touched the card with one finger.
Her voice barely reached across the row.
"I always wondered if any of them kept them."