Gladys Nunes became a nurse in 1924.

She helped deliver Yvonne Mae on August 20, 1925

And Frank Stuart Rogers on August 1

Robert Williams on March 31, 1926

Donald McCune on February 9, 1927

She kept dozens of birth announcements tucked safely within the book of treasures

Along with pictures of her instructresses

And how sixteen girls started off in the nursing program

But only six saw it through after three years.

She kept news clippings of marriages

Saved a telegram from dad—

“Charlene died last night eleven twenty pm”

A meticulous record of what to remember—

Inches, pounds, time.

And yet.

In the entire book full of lives and legacies of hundreds of people,

There is one face scrawled out.

A woman with a wide stance, round hat, and a shoulder with a man’s hand resting upon it.

Feel the rough scratch of her obliterated face.

The remaining two couples in the picture smile, unscathed.

Saved.

Gladys undid that woman’s life,

Even as the woman begged her for forgiveness,

Wanting to feel absolved,

Clean,

Innocent as a newborn.