The note explained that the unpublished manuscript was provisionally entitled Hell to Pay: A True Account of My Life and Adventures and that I would learn of its whereabouts after listening to a recording my great-grandfather had made specifically for me.

When I opened the shoebox, I found three six-inch reel-to-reel tapes. Each was fixed with a label. One read, "Wadsworth Oral History Project, Winter 1958," and another read "Anna Marie Sayles & W. F. R. Battles interviews, summer 1959." But it was the last one that grabbed my attention. The label on it read "For Theodore Sayles. Instructions and Remarks from W. F. R. Battles."

A small envelope addressed to me was lodged between the reels. Inside was a note in my grandmother's distinctive handwriting:

"Dear...

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