by Jean Fischer
“Wait, I bet I know,” said McKenzie. “You said Mrs. Hummingbird talked about a time when Grandma Hisgi was hiding in the cave. Maybe she sent her Bible to her family in Oklahoma at that time with the letter hidden inside.”
“Then it might be natural for her to put it in code so that her family could find her, but her enemies couldn’t,” said Kate.
“Maybe the caves they were hiding in were those near the cabin,” McKenzie said.
“They probably had some way to peek out and watch the cabin,” Alex said. “Like in old Westerns. Then they would have seen if any of their family arrived to help them.”
“Well, from what Mrs. Hummingbird said, it sounds like they didn’t have anyone arrive to help them,” Sydney said. “I guess no one ever found the letter hidden in the Bible. Or else Grandma Hisgi never sent it and just never took the letter out.”
“It seems like Grandma Hisgi and Grandpa Coody figured out that the Lord would be their helper since they left hiding,” Elizabeth said. “Just like the Bible tells us—He is a present help in time of need.”
Bailey leaned back in her chair. “What did Galilahi and Billy John think when you told them that you thought Mrs. Hummingbird’s house is the Cabin of the Rising Sun?”
“We decided not to tell them,” said Elizabeth. “We would if we knew for sure, but we don’t. If the word got out, Mrs. Hummingbird’s privacy would be ruined. Can you imagine? Why, everyone in Cherokee would want to meet her.”
“My lips are sealed,” said Bailey. “So is the case closed?”
“Not entirely,” Sydney answered. “Tomorrow morning, we’re going with Billy John and Galilahi to find Grandma Hisgi’s grave. It’s in the Old Church Cemetery, here in Cherokee. We’re hoping that the grave is marked.”
“You can always ask the caretaker,” Kate said, setting Biscuit on the floor. “Even if there’s no headstone, the caretaker can probably tell you where it is. Most cemeteries have records.”
“I didn’t know that,” Sydney said. “Thanks for the tip.”
“You’re welcome,” Kate answered.
The girls said good night to each other and turned off their webcams.
“You know, I was just thinking,” said Elizabeth. “We should take flowers to the cemetery tomorrow.”
“That’s a good idea,” Sydney answered. “They sell flowers at the grocery store on the corner. We can get some in the morning before we meet Billy John and Galilahi at the cemetery.”
Elizabeth settled into her bed. “I hope you wrote down the directions for getting there. I haven’t a clue where we’re supposed to go.”
“Not to worry. I’ve got them,” Sydney said as she turned off the light in their bedroom. She lay down and pulled up the covers. “I know exactly where we’re going.”
Billy John and Galilahi were waiting for them outside the big iron gates at the Old Church Cemetery. A stone wall surrounded the cemetery, and a narrow, gravel road led inside. Sydney carried a mixed bouquet of delphiniums, asters, and carnations. Galilahi had her own bouquet.
“I see you brought flowers too,” Sydney said.
“Sunflowers,” Galilahi answered. “I thought they’d be appropriate.” She looked down at her feet. “I’m a little nervous. I feel like I’m meeting someone important for the first time. Sort of like last night.”
They walked through the open gate and started along the winding road.
“Who’d you meet last night?” Sydney asked.
Billy John lagged behind.
“When I got home from Mrs. Hummingbird’s, I felt like I should pray. So I went in my room and shut the door and knelt down by my bed. You guys might think that I’m weird for telling you this.”
“Not at all,” Elizabeth answered. “Go on.”
“I started to pray, and I asked God to help us find Grandma Hisgi’s grave today, but then the strangest thing happened.”
She stopped. They’d come to a fork in the road, and they didn’t know which way to go. Billy John caught up with them and pointed in the direction of a hill on the north end of the cemetery.
“That way, I think,” he said and took off up the road.
“So, what happened?” Sydney asked.
Galilahi hurried along behind Billy John, not wanting him to get too far ahead. “Well, as I prayed, finding the grave didn’t seem so important anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I hope that we do find the grave, but if we don’t, I’m okay with it. It seemed more important to thank God for Grandma Hisgi and all the good things that she and her husband did for the Cherokee people. The more I prayed, the more it became about thanking God than asking Him for stuff. Isn’t that strange?”
A chipmunk skittered across the road in front of them. It stopped for a second or two, looked at the group walking toward it, and then dashed off among the headstones.
“I don’t think it’s strange at all,” Elizabeth told her. “God loves it when we put Him first. That pleases Him more than anything.”
The road grew steeper as they started up the hill.
“Whenever I’ve prayed before,” Galilahi continued, “I’ve never really felt much, but this time I did. I felt that God was really there and listening to me, and that felt good. It was like I was meeting Him for the very first time.”
“Maybe you were,” Sydney suggested.
“The whole experience made me feel sort of nervous, or maybe I should say different,” Galilahi confessed. “But in a good way.”
Billy John stopped. “We’re here,” he said.
The headstones on the hillside were set in uneven rows. Sydney noticed that they were all very old. Some were toppled over. Others were so weatherworn that you couldn’t read the words.
“I think we should split up,” Billy John suggested. “It’ll go faster that way. Galilahi, you take that row,” he said, pointing. “Liz, take that one.” He pointed again. “And Syd, you—“
“I’ll take this one,” Sydney interrupted, choosing her own row. “Remember,” she added, “the name on the headstone is most likely Coody, not Adair. Look for a birth date around 1828. Mrs. Hummingbird is almost a hundred years old, so—”
“She’s ninety-six,” Billy John said. “She told me that, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
Sydney was busy doing the math in her head. “So, that means that Mrs. Hummingbird was born around 1915, and the death date on Grandma Hisgi’s headstone has to be after that.”
“But not too many years after that,” Elizabeth cautioned. “Because Mrs. Hummingbird was a little girl when Grandma Hisgi died.”
Billy John scratched his head. “Say all that again.”
“Look for a headstone that says Coody,” Sydney said, bluntly.
“And Adair too,” said Galilahi. “Just in case she used that name. Okay? Let’s go.”
Galilahi, Billy John, Elizabeth, and Sydney each took a row of headstones. They walked slowly among them, carefully reading the words. When they came to the ends of their rows, they’d found nothing that said Coody or Adair.
“Don’t get discouraged,” Elizabeth told Galilahi. “We’ll keep looking.”
Billy John assigned another set of rows, and they continued on. Back and forth they went among the stones. Again, they found nothing. They kept looking until they were almost at the top of the hill and on the verge of giving up.
“There’s that big headstone on the very top of the hill,” said Billy John. “Do you want to go check it out?”
“I doubt that Grandma Hisgi would have a big headstone, especially in an old and forgotten cemetery like this one,” said Galilahi. “It’s probably a marker for someone who was very important way back when. I think she’d have a little headstone.”
“If she had one at all,” Elizabeth offered.
“I’m checking it out anyway,” Billy John told them. He trudged up the steep hill, dodging any headstones that were in his way.
“There’s one more row to check here,” said Sydney. “Let’s do it.” She, Elizabeth
, and Galilahi set out together, carefully reading the inscriptions on the stones. There were no Coodys and no Adairs.
“I think we’ve reached another dead end,” Galilahi declared. “But that’s okay. Just knowing about Grandma Hisgi and learning about her faith in God makes me happy. I feel like I’ve found a piece of me that was missing.”
“You’ve completed the circle,” said Sydney. “You connected with the great-grandma who had your name.”
“And just think,” said Elizabeth. “If it hadn’t been for her, your name would be something other than Galilahi.”
All of a sudden, Billy John let out a loud whoop.
“Whoo-hoo!” his voice echoed through the deserted cemetery. “I found her!”
The girls looked at each other in disbelief, then sprinted up the hill to Billy John.
“Hers is the biggest headstone,” he said as they got nearer. “Check it out.”
The upright, white stone was as tall as Sydney. It was shaped somewhat like a steeple with a rounded top. A cross was etched near its top, and the words below the cross were weathered but still easy to read. Galilahi read them aloud:
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF
GALILAHI COODY
BORN IN CHEROKEE CO., NC.: FEB. 28, 1828
DIED: APR. 11, 1919
SHE IS NOT DEAD BUT SLEEPETH
ALTHOUGH SHE SLEEPS HER MEMORY DOTH LIVE
AND CHEERING COMFORT TO HER MOURNERS GIVE,
SHE FOLLOWED VIRTUE AS HER TRUEST GUIDE,
LIVED AS A CHRISTIAN,
AS A CHRISTIAN DIED.
“WITH THANKS FROM THE PEOPLE OF CHEROKEE”
“Grandmother,” Galilahi whispered.
Sydney noticed a tear trickle down her friend’s cheek.
“I think the townspeople put up this headstone,” she said, “as their way to say thank you to your Grandma Hisgi.”
Elizabeth was standing just to the right of her friends. She looked down at the headstone next to her and gasped.
“Oh my! He’s here too—the missionary.” She read the inscription aloud:
IN MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND
REV. NATHANIEL COODY
DIED NOV. 6, 1882
“TO LIVE IN HEARTS WE LEAVE BEHIND IS NOT TO DIE”
THY WILL BE DONE
FOREVER IN HEAVEN WITH GOD
“Wow, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather,” said Galilahi. She read the words on his headstone again. “Let’s take another look around up here. Maybe we’ll find some Adairs.”
Galilahi, Billy John, Elizabeth, and Sydney looked closely at all the remaining headstones on the hill, but there were no Adairs among them.
“I think we’ve seen them all,” said Billy John.
They returned to Grandma Hisgi’s headstone, and Galilahi laid the sunflowers against it. “I still wonder if she was ever reunited with her family. Maybe if I keep at it and dig even deeper into my family’s history, I’ll find the answer some day.”
Sydney laid her bouquet on Nathaniel Coody’s grave. “You may never find the answer,” she said. “Sometimes God keeps secrets.”
“But there’s one thing for sure,” Elizabeth added. “Since you believe in Jesus, you’ll go to heaven when you die, and when you get there, you’ll have all the answers you need.”
“The first thing that I’m going to do is write a very long letter to Great-Grandmother Rogers,” said Galilahi. “Before long, Great-Grandmother will be with Grandma Hisgi in heaven, and then she’ll know all the secrets about the Cabin of the Rising Sun.”
“And one day,” said Sydney. “We all will too.”
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