a deadly storm, an unsolved disappearance, and a small town brimming with secrecy;
an outcast girl, a boy who only knows how to hide, and the world against them;
what could go wrong?
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When Boo was quite small, her father and grandmother took her to the local park downtown. In one hand she held a homemade Raggedy-Ann doll, given to her by Martha. In her other was her father's hand, keeping her tethered to safety as the three of them crossed the grassy lawn surrounding the park's playground. Once the swings were in full view, Boo took off like a bullet to get the highest swing on the set.
"Push me!" she squealed to her father, chubby cheeks squished up in a smile as her hands wrapped around the rusted chains. Her feet kicked the air, as if her tiny body could somehow create enough force to swing unassisted. Russell gave his daughter a charming smile, characteristic of his easy nature, and rounded the swing to begin pushing her gently.
Martha was close behind her son-in-law. "I wish every day was like this for her," she'd said, crossing her arms and watching Boo with a wistful smile. "Just sunshine. I love seeing that little smile."
Russell had sighed, a little too deeply. "I do my best. Things are getting more difficult between us."
"I'm trying to help, for Melita's sake," Martha had said, keeping her voice low so Boo wasn't distracted from her playtime. "But my daughter is a bit of a wild card. Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong with her."
"I still love Lori," Russell said quietly. He gave the swing another gentle push and Boo giggled loudly in glee. "She gave me the best present I could ever hope to have. But there's too much going on between us and around us to continue the way we are."
Martha had paused, absorbing his words. "Around you?"
Russell laughed dryly. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I don't look like too many folks 'round here. Melly is the same way, and I'm worried about what kind of suspicion she'll grow up under."
A strange look had crossed Martha's face, one Russell didn't see. Something melancholy, almost guilty hung in the air around her. The sun continued to shine but suddenly she felt cold.
"I want to protect her from the things people say about me," Russell continued. "About Lori, about all of us. But I'm one man and there's a whole world of ignorance out there."
"What could seriously go wrong in a town of a thousand people?" Martha had laughed dismissively, hugging her arms tighter around her thin frame.
"You'd be surprised," Russell said. His eyes stayed on his daughter as he helped her off the swingset so she could run over to the slides. "Even the best people are capable of some really terrible things."
* * *
This isn't a conversation that Boo has any recollection of. But she does remember the beat-up old swing set, the pink shoes she wore that day, the way the sun beat down on her ebony skin, and the smell of the wisteria on the breeze. She remembers how high she swung and that she could almost see the shores of Jack Creek Lake beyond the edges of the city. Almost.
