Coincidence, coincidence

I got a phone call this morning from a stranger. She introduced herself as Ina. She had just finished reading The Medal, a Christmas gift from her grand-daughter. She told me how much she enjoyed the book, and asked me a question about the acknowledgments. She had read that all of the anecdotes that ‘Harry’ shares with ‘Kilian’ were real experiences of my late father-in-law J. Verneard Sherbino. She asked if he had a brother Earl. He did. It turned out that Ina’s aunt (her mother’s sister) had married Earl. What a small world! And what a coincidence. Ina’s grand-daughter, Sara, is a dental hygienist at the clinic my husband and I go to, but I never would have met her if I hadn’t rescheduled my appointment because of a conflict with my book launch!