French Connection May Solve Mystery of Deaf Child

--A woman in Paris may prove the key that unlocks the mystery of a deaf boy who cannot speak found wandering the streets of Juarez, Mexico, last year. The boy, who was turned over to officials in nearby El Paso after showing a preference for hamburgers and American cartoon characters, told officials through a combination of gestures and pictures that he survived the crash of a small airplane that killed his parents and sister. Officials stymied in their search for more information circulated the boy’s picture throughout the United States, Mexico, England and France. That led to a call from a Paris woman, who said she believes she is the grandmother of the boy, who was named Sabat by his Mexican guardians. The woman, who asked not to be identified, gave the address and telephone number of her son, who lives in El Paso. She said that she has not spoken to her son, who is also French and is married to a Mexican woman, for several months.

--Living in the White House, “your life somehow becomes larger than life,” Nancy Reagan told a group of senators’ wives at a farewell luncheon at which she lamented: “Well, this is the last one, the last lunch we’ll have together like this. And I want you to know that I’ve enjoyed these lunches, these little breaks, over the last eight years.” Describing the eight years at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as a “roller coaster,” Mrs. Reagan predicted that “it will be the same for the next First Lady, and it will be the cause of her greatest thrills and her greatest heartaches.”

--Margot Kidder was there, bidding for some emeralds, while an anonymous buyer snagged the catch of the day, a 62-inch Renaissance gold chain that brought down the gavel at $319,000. The occasion was the auction in New York of Spanish gold and gems from a pair of galleons that sank off the Florida Keys during a hurricane in 1622. The Nuestra Senora de Atocha and her sister ship, the Santa Margarita, were discovered in 1971 and 1980 respectively by treasure hunter Mel Fisher, who was at the auction wearing pounds of gold chain that he had found on the ocean floor around his neck. Also fetching high prices were a two-handled gold cup that brought $275,000, and a silver gilt cup that sold for $165,000.