Misisipi
Page 48
Four rows in, the next section up, he found it. Like its neighbors, the dirty lines of brown came almost to the roof of the crypt, the structure only bone-white above the terminator of the highest watermark.
The large name plate was soiled by the same discoloration. Scott swept his palm across the smooth granite, wiping back and forth over the engraved names now all-too familiar to him.
Jean Lafitte Almonester 1980–1981
Lirienne Almonester 1965–1981
A light dusting of mud covered the top step of the crypt, including the cluster of rocks in its center. The fist-sized stones were arranged as a closed mound, a domed circle—a cairn. Scott picked the top of it apart. A thick mass of mud was lodged within the ring of rocks. He flaked it down and blew the fragments away. The Navajo Stones rested loose in the center of the circle. Julianna had seen to it that they would not wash away before he found them.
He lifted them and rubbed each clean. Without a second thought, he chose the one and returned the other six to the circle. He remade the cairn, and with the stone in his hand, Scott Jameson walked out of Greenwood Cemetery and left the City of Histories.
The Beginning
The Logs in a Whirlwind
For the circle of life
Credits And References
‘Armies In The Fire’ by Robert Louis Stevenson, from The Collected Poems Of Robert Louis Stevenson, ©Edinburgh University Press, 2003. Reproduced with permission.
‘Upon A Dying Lady’ by W.B. Yeats. Reproduced with the permission of A P Watt on behalf of Gráinne Yeats.
‘When We Two Are Parted’ by George Gordon Lord Byron, from Byron: Complete Poetical Works, ©Oxford University Press, 1970. Reproduced with permission.
‘Taken From Men This Morning’ and ‘So Proud She Was To Die’ by Emily Dickinson, from The Complete Poems Of Emily Dickinson, ©Little, Brown and Company, 1924. Reproduced with the consent of The Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.
‘No Coward Soul Is Mine’ by Emily Bronte, from The Complete Poems, ©Penguin Classics, 1995. Reproduced with the consent of The Bronte Parsonage Museum, Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Julianna’s Picture Window adapted from ‘Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard’ by Thomas Gray.
Scott’s Cemetery Song adapted from ‘Sixteen Tons’, written by Merle Travis.
Transcript of Hardy Jackson interview reproduced with the kind permission of WKRG News 5, Mobile, Alabama and Miss Jennifer Mayerle.
Cover photograph, ‘Weeki Wachee Spring, Florida’ by Toni Frissell, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Toni Frissell Collection, LC-F9-02-4712-072-10
Cover design and graphics by Neil & Nathan at www.signs.ie. All images ©Michael Reilly 2012
About The Author
Michael Reilly was born in Dublin, Ireland. He lives in County Cavan, Ireland. Misisipi is his first novel.
Author’s Note
Within the 147,000ish words of this book, there is fact, fiction, a lot of writing, and a little good writing.
The good writing can be credited to the patience and tenacity and blunt honesty of the following: Jay Greenstein, Jim Hagen & Muirae Kenney; all at the Bailieborough Writers Litlab, especially Heather Brett, Michael Farry, Paddy Halligan, Lisa McKenna & Antoinette Rock. Special thanks in this regard to Beatrice Maloney, Sarah Jensen & S. Chris Shirley.
The accuracy of all-things-factual – everything that is real in the story – is the result of exceptional patience and generosity on the part of many special people: Gerry Appleby, Vanessa B, Mindy Bianca, Huey Campbell, Tamara van der Does, Stephen Guidry, Ashley Hoagland, Marion James, Mardi Johnson, Dr. Jeremy Johnston, Coleen Perilloux Landry, Allison Marshall, Terry O’Malley, Padraig O'Reilly, Greg Peverill-Conti, Bruce Price, Ken Riley, Eddie Seabolt, Capt. Joe Waguespack, Snr. (New Orleans Police Department), Adam Wells & the ‘English major’@Metro Customer Relations, Los Angeles. In this respect, obscenely special thanks go to: Paula Curley, Dr. Matthew Glowacki, Patrol Sgt. Roy Lee (Washington Parish Sheriffs Office), Jennifer Mayerle, the other Michael Reilly, Daniel Weise & Patrick J. Weise. The accuracy is theirs; the errors are mine and most of them are unintentional.
A special shout-out to my ‘Tru-Dat Nation’ for keeping me honest on all things NOLA: Amy Conner, James Nolan, Carolyn Perry, Celeste Stover & “Wacko” Wade Wright.
Thanks also to Ja’an for the positivity, Jamison Burch, Andy Patterson, and anyone else I may have unintentionally—and unforgivably—omitted from the Rolls of Honor.
Much of my information on Hurricane Katrina—at this safe remove—is down to the courage and resilience of the many journalists and citizen journalists—heroes all—who documented and shared the experience of The Great Storm/The Thing/That Bitch Katrina as they lived and risked it. I am indebted to their reportage and records. Too many to mention; so, for the blogs, the videos, the articles, the newscasts, and the images—THANK YOU ALL.
If you care to read further: “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast” by Professor Douglas Brinkley gets my vote for the definitive and complete record of the event, the real skinny which contains as much heart, soul, and humanity as its fiction counterparts.
If you want to know more about the effects of Hurricane Katrina and how to help the still-ongoing recovery efforts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, then google same or start with:
www.habitat.org/disaster/programs/details/Gulf_Recovery_Default.aspx
www.habitat-nola.org
makeitrightnola.org
If you want to learn more about Mountain Top Removal and how to assist in the preservation of the irreplaceable Appalachians, check out:
iLoveMountains.org
Make general donations for ongoing disaster-relief efforts around the world via:
www.icrc.org/eng/donations/index.jsp
Please Show Your Appreciation
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Artwork on Flickr: (http://bit.ly/YJCap7)
Thank you for reading my story.
Michael Reilly, October 2012
For Miriam,
who made the choice
to let me live.
End Of E-Book