The Forgotten Girl

by India Hill Brown

  Today was no different, as Iris slid in beside Daniel on the pew behind their parents and Vashti. Vashti tried to sit with them one day, but she was too rowdy without her parents’ close eyes, crawling under the seat and laughing too loudly. Daniel knew Iris was relieved when Mrs. Rose told Vashti she couldn’t sit there anymore.

  The pastor talked about the importance of helping those in need, talking about some of the community service drives they were holding, when Iris nudged Daniel’s knee and handed him a note, written on a church program.

  I need to tell you something.

  Daniel looked at Iris, a question in his eyes. She shook her head and mouthed “Later.”

  Afterward, when they prayed their benediction and all the grown-ups stood around and talked to one another, Iris pulled Daniel to the back of the chapel, behind the last pew.

  “Last night, I thought I was having another nightmare about the spirits of the snow. It was the same girl I thought I saw in the clearing, and in my window … Daniel, I think it was Avery Moore. In my dream, she even said, ‘Your angel rests where I do,’ like, the snow angel I made on her grave.”

  “Iris—” Daniel started, but Iris stopped him, shaking his shoulders.

  “Listen! At first I thought it was the witch riding my back, but this was a different kind of dream. It even felt cold in my room. I felt my bed, felt my sweat … and every time I see her open the window in my dream, it’s really open when I wake up. Something really weird is going on around here.”

  “What?”

  “Daniel! I’m not lying! I’m in church! Look, I don’t know what happened in the clearing that night, but I think there’s a reason I keep dreaming about her. I need to find out more about her to figure it out.”

  Daniel sighed, exasperated. He knew they shouldn’t have gone there that night. Iris already had nightmares and now they were worse, probably from guilt and knowing that they played in a graveyard. He didn’t think his friend wanted to admit that she was scared. He wanted to tell her it was okay.

  “In the dream, she kept saying she didn’t want to be forgotten. We need to find out if there are any Moores in the area—” Iris began again, but he looked up and signaled to Iris that their families were walking up, right behind her.

  “Come on, Iris, we’re going to Eggs Over Easaw for brunch,” Mrs. Rose said. She turned to Daniel’s mom. “And you’re sure y’all don’t want us to save you some seats?”

  Mrs. Stone shook her head no. “We’re going to visit Cecil today, and I need to get home and get some things done around the house; there’s a big load of laundry waiting for me.”

  “On a Sunday?” Suga asked incredulously. “You’re never supposed to wash clothes on a Sunday.”

  Daniel scrunched up his face. Here she goes again with her strange rules.

  “The sermon was beautiful today, wasn’t it?” she continued on. “I loved that. Such helpful, nice people here. Danny, do you know when I was your age, Black people weren’t even allowed to sit on the front pews like we do here? We had to sit in the back or in the balcony.”

  “Really?” Daniel asked, suddenly feeling sad. He pictured Suga as a girl, trying to see the pastor from a seat too far away.

  “Yup. And the front was reserved for Whites only.”

  “That’s not fair. How can you be mean like that? And in church, too,” Iris said, crossing her arms even tighter. She looked at Suga. “Suga, Daniel and I are actually doing a project that deals with segregation in Easaw. Maybe you can tell us more about the things you saw.”

  Daniel was stuck in between wishing Iris didn’t ask, and feeling guilty that he didn’t ask himself.

  Suga smiled at Iris. “Of course I could, sweetie. Anything to help.”

  “I can’t wait to see the finished product,” Mr. Rose said. “It’s such an interesting topic—I’m sure the teachers will be talking about it for days.”

  Iris beamed. Daniel even had to smile, thinking of the look Heather Benson would have on her face. Maybe she’d finally stop hitting him with her hair every time she turned around.

  “I think it’s a great idea,” Mrs. Rose said. “Maybe we can set up a time for y’all to talk this week. But for right now, we have a reservation to make.”

  Daniel, Suga, and Mrs. Stone walked around the corner and down two blocks to Sampson’s Perpetual Care. The sky was overcast, the snow turned to slush on the ground. It was bright and gloomy at the same time.

  They walked the usual winding path, cutting through the grass that was so green in the summertime, to the slick, black slab of marble on the ground.

  Cecil Stone

  Husband | Son | Father

  Daniel remembered the first time they came here, after the funeral. His mom and Suga were screaming like he’d never seen them before, like babies throwing a temper tantrum. He could almost see their grief, coming from their stomachs, out of their mouths, swirling around the church and floating to the sky. He’d never seen his mom cry like that before, and hadn’t since. He remembered the feeling of the tears slowly falling down his cheek, clouding his glasses, as one of his aunts patted him on the back.

  Today, as always, it was still somber but a lot more peaceful. Mrs. Stone knelt down to the marker and rubbed it, while Suga closed her eyes in prayer.

  Sometimes Daniel spoke out loud to it, sometimes he just stared at it, thinking.

  “His soul is at rest,” Suga said one time.

  He thought about Avery Moore’s soul, and her graveyard compared to his dad’s.

  While this one was newer, well manicured, Avery’s felt forgotten. That grave deserved to be recognized. They could definitely do that with their project.

  Daniel heard a sigh, pulling him out of his thoughts. Mrs. Stone got up and turned around, facing Daniel. She smiled a little.

  “Okay. Are y’all ready?”

  Daniel looked at his father’s grave one more time.

  He hoped Iris’s dreams calmed down soon. He knew her well enough to know that if she wanted to explore again and find out about Avery Moore, she would, even if that meant going back to a haunted clearing. Or worse. He couldn’t risk losing someone else close to him.

  “Yes, Mama. Let’s go.”

  “I think that’s Iris.”

  He opened the door and sure enough, his best friend walked into the house, carrying a notepad and a pen.

  They were interviewing Suga for their project after school, and Daniel was admittedly a little nervous about it. He didn’t know what Suga was going to do or if there were any superstitions of hers in place that would keep her from saying what she really wanted to say.

  Still, he was determined. He knew that the sooner they found out about segregated graveyards, the sooner they could be done with this project, and Iris would stop having such bad dreams about graves and spirits.

  “Hey, Daniel,” Iris said, smiling and walking over to the couch. “Where’s Suga?”

  “She’s upstairs. She’ll be down in a second.”

  Daniel sat down beside Iris, his knee jumping up and down. His mom was at work, so there was no grown-up to buffer if things got weird.

  “Relax,” Iris said, grinning at him. Her eyes turned to the staircase.

  “Hey, Suga!” she yelled.

  “Well, heyyyy, babies!”

  They heard her before they saw her. Pretty soon, Suga came downstairs in a pale pink housecoat, a matching bonnet, and slippers. She was holding a thin, worn brown book. She plopped in the armchair across from them.

  “Now,” she said, taking a deep breath. “What did you have to ask me?”

  “Well,” Daniel started, fidgeting with his glasses. “We’re doing a project on segregation in Easaw, particularly graveyards and stuff. We—”

  He started to say where he got the idea from, but decided against it.

  “We knew we could ask you, especially from what you said in church on Sunday,” Iris finished for him.

  “Oh yes,” Suga said. “Yes, times have chan
ged. We’ve come so far, but still have a long way to go. Back when I was your age, everything was separated by Blacks only or Whites only: sections in the library, bathrooms, restaurants, seats on the bus … When I was a teenager, though, people decided that they’d had enough. Just right here, in North Carolina, there were some protests at some of the restaurants in Greensboro. Some students went into a Whites-only lunch counter, demanding to be served. Customers pulled their hair, punched and spit on them … Oh, and the schools. Did you know that …” She stopped and sighed, staring off into space.

  “What, Suga?” Iris pressed.

  “Oh, child, it was awful. But you wanted to know about the cemeteries … A law passed when I was a child that made it legal to separate those who have passed on by race. When the caretakers of the Blacks-only cemeteries or sections of those cemeteries moved away, the graves were forgotten about, built on top of … sometimes even vandalized.”

  Iris gasped, and Daniel’s stomach dropped.

  “Some cemeteries would eventually have toppled headstones, vines everywhere …”

  Iris and Daniel looked at each other.

  “Where my Cecil is buried right now, Sampson’s Perpetual Care, why, in my time period, he wouldn’t even be able to be there. Oh, it was a tough time, babies. But forward we go, to make this world a better place.” Suga smiled. “I’m so glad y’all are doing this. Such bright and helpful babies. You’ll be rewarded, I’m sure.”

  Daniel’s cheeks warmed while he saw Iris’s tint the slightest pink. “Thanks, Suga.”

  “Well, look, I don’t know if this helps, but I have some pictures of me as a little girl around Easaw. Maybe you can get a clearer picture of how things were around here.”

  She handed over the book, and Iris and Daniel scooted closer to get a look. They opened it up to find a little girl with tight curls, her mouth open in a wide smile, and a dripping ice cream cone in her hand.

  “Is this you?” Daniel asked, pointing at the picture.

  Suga leaned over the photo. “Oh yes! I used to love the ice cream parlor. Would use my allowance every week to get some. But do you see that diner, kinda in the background over there? Yes, we weren’t allowed to eat there.”

  They turned the page, looking at Suga before she was Suga, when she was just a young Emma Mae, smiling, frowning, and in one, crying.

  “I had just gotten my hair done and it hurt so bad!” Suga said, laughing at the picture. “I’m sure you know that feeling.” She winked at Iris.

  “More than anything,” Iris said, rolling her eyes at the thought of the tugging and pulling her hair dresser would do to give Iris her signature style.

  The next picture was Suga standing on the porch of what looked like a small house in front of a pond. Iris peered closer. It looked like Nelson’s Pond, the one behind her school.

  “Oh, Suga, I forgot you lived around here before!” Iris said, smiling. Her eyes grew wide. “Hey, do you happen to know a Moore family? As a matter of fact, have you ever heard the name Avery Moore—”

  The look Suga gave Iris was colder than all the snow in Easaw.

  “What did you say?” Suga asked, her voice low.

  Iris stammered. “A-Avery Moore. Did you know her?”

  Daniel leaned forward to look at the picture, trying to focus their attention back on the photo album, but Suga snatched the book and closed it shut.

  “Avery Moore was killed by the spirits of the snow.”

  Iris whipped her head toward Daniel, terror in her face. Daniel was bewildered.

  What was Suga talking about?

  “Suga?” Iris said, eyes wide. “What happened?”

  “I’m going to my room,” she said, taking the book. “I don’t feel well. We can finish this later.”

  She walked upstairs.

  Daniel groaned. Just when everything was going well, Suga had to do something weird, again. Iris’s nightmares were going to be even worse now.

  Iris watched Suga walk away, her mouth open in shock. “The spirits of the snow … actually killed somebody?” asked Iris quietly. She rubbed her arms. “So it’s true. They’re real.”

  “It’s not true,” Daniel grumbled. “It’s just Suga being Suga. Let’s get out of here.”

  Daniel was irritated that Suga brought up the spirits of the snow. But he couldn’t help but wonder: What actually happened to Avery Moore?

  When they left Daniel’s house, Iris’s thoughts were spinning with the idea that the spirits of the snow really did kill Avery Moore.

  Daniel, of course, didn’t believe any of it, but at least now they both agreed that they wanted to find out exactly what did happen to her.

  But it was hard. Suga clearly didn’t want to say anything else about her. And once she’d decided something, there was no changing her mind.

  They were reaching dead ends in their search for Avery. Moore was a very common last name in Easaw. Iris and Daniel reached out to the Moores they could find contact information for, but the ones who bothered to email them back had no idea who Avery was. Iris’s dream was right: She was forgotten.

  In the meantime, they had to focus on the center of their actual project: segregated graves. In social studies the next day, their teacher gave them free time at the end of class to discuss their projects. Some kids were chatting animatedly, like Heather, much to the annoyance of her partner, and Kayla, who was making great strides in her project about local sports teams with a kid named John. Kayla told Iris that they may be able to get some members of the local baseball team to come watch them present their project.

  Iris and Daniel pushed their desks together and were reviewing the notes they had about the laws of segregated graveyards in the United States and North Carolina. Daniel had just found some information on how to get graveyards restored: through volunteer and nonprofit organizations. There were a few big ones in Easaw that Iris and Daniel had reached out to, but Iris also knew of one right under her nose.

  “I have an idea,” Iris said, putting her pencil down and looking at Daniel.

  “What is it?” Daniel asked, his brow furrowed as he scribbled notes from his social studies book.

  “So, you know how they were talking about helping people in church on Sunday?” Iris asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “And all of the grown-ups are saying it’s such a good idea that we’re looking into the segregated graves around here? And how you just found that info about getting graves restored?”

  “Yeah …”

  “You know the school club, the Cleanup Club? They take a cause every few weeks and a volunteer group in town helps them complete it. We can join the club and ask if they’d want to help restore that graveyard in the clearing! It’s perfect! We can get the student body and a volunteer group involved in one swoop.”

  It was perfect. Everyone would be talking about their project, and the graveyard would get cleaned up.

  Daniel raised his eyebrows. “Wow, that is a good idea, Iris. When is their next meeting?”

  “It’s this afternoon, after school,” a snooty voice said. “And we already have a cause.”

  Iris and Daniel looked up to find Heather smugly staring at them. Her partner, Sarah, who was in the middle of explaining something, closed her mouth and quietly turned to her book.

  “This afternoon?” Iris’s heart sank. She had step practice tonight.

  “It’s okay. I can go,” Daniel whispered to her.

  “We have an idea for a cause that the club might be interested in,” Iris told Heather, leaning back and folding her arms.

  “Didn’t you hear me? We already have a cause. Chelsea, you know, my best friend? She’s the president of that club. And we’re fixing up the basketball court.”

  Daniel scrunched up his face. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”

  “Yes, there is. It needs to be beautified!”

  “Heather, it’s a basketball court.” Iris noticed Daniel’s voice growing cold. “There are no cracks in the concrete, or
anything. We have everything we need.”

  “It’s an eyesore.” Heather looked bored and turned back to Sarah. Iris rolled her eyes at Heather.

  “I’m trying to understand who made Heather the queen of Nelson’s Pond Middle,” Iris said, a little louder than she should’ve. Kayla looked back at Iris and laughed, along with a few other kids, including Sarah. Daniel smiled and shook his head.

  “Iris,” Mr. Hammond said in warning, eyeing her over his glasses. How was he always able to hear her remarks and no one else’s?

  “Sorry,” Iris mumbled quickly, then opened her mouth again. “Mr. Hammond, if someone wanted to start a service club, where we went around and cleaned up abandoned spaces in town, how would you recommend us going about it?”

  “I’d say we already have a club that does that—the Cleanup Club.”

  You say we already have a club, but I can’t even get my foot in the door, Iris was thinking, but instead she said:

  “Well, Heather just informed me that the Cleanup Club already has a project going on, and I have an idea for a project that’s very near and dear to my heart.” Iris put her hands over her chest for good measure.

  Mr. Hammond looked at Heather. “Now, Heather, did you say that? That’s not true. We haven’t voted on a project yet. I’m the advisor.”

  “Well, there’s only one proposed project right now,” Heather said sharply. When Mr. Hammond eyed her, she just smiled.

  “Not anymore,” Iris said.

  “If you’re interested, come to the meeting,” said Mr. Hammond. “If the project is near and dear to your heart, we’d love to hear about it before we vote.”

  Mr. Hammond went back to grading test papers, and Iris went back to looking over notes for their project, making sure to stick her tongue out at Heather first.