One _____ Reading Weathered Marble WIND HOWLED through the trees that surrounded me Boughs overhead moaned The roots beneath my feet wrapped tightly around the buried coffins to hold the trees to the ground And all the while I stood at the cemetery gate trying my best to ignore the posted warning signs Beware of Falling Gravestones Enter at Your Own Risk Closed at Sunset No Dogs Allowed Just who did the gate think it was fooling Sure it looked secure enough but when it was locked at night the
gate would be useless at keeping anything inside that wanted to get out And I wasn’t worried about the living Then I heard a shrill four-fingered whistle across the street from the cemetery Derek the whistler hollered from the front steps of the old stone library that had once been a church We’re in here I grabbed my knapsack and bolted from the cemetery gate cold heebie-jeebies charging down my spine But when I got to the crosswalk I stopped in my tracks I looked left right left and then left right left again before taking a careful step off the curb The extra checking was a safety habit that I couldn’t seem to shake not even when fleeing a spooky graveyard in the cold rain After crossing the street I scrambled up the granite steps to the library with relief I’d never been to this library before Even though it was no longer a church its stained-glass windows had been saved Each one was filled with scenes of people in robes and sandals the men with beards the women’s heads covered by hoods many of them weeping or looking up to the sky with their hands clasped some on their knees heads bowed beams of light shining down You must be Derek I’m Loyola Louden
Loyola was basketball-player tall compared to my own husky self If you asked me what my favorite subject at school was I would not say Gym But I was guessing that Loyola sure would She effortlessly held a large stack of books with one hand as she shook my hand with her other gigantic one At least she didn’t squeeze hard I really hated that Do you supervise cemetery duty I asked No I’m a university student Loyola said I work here part-time I explained I’m supposed to report for cemetery duty by the gate The Twillingate Cemetery Brigade gives lessons here whenever it’s raining Lessons I repeated with alarm I thought cemetery duty was supposed to be dead easy like picking up litter or planting flowers around that ugly towering gate or straightening gravestones that looked like they were about to topple over She ignored my unease and led me inside past stacks and stacks of books to the research area where Pascal and Merrilee sat waiting Hey I said to them without much enthusiasm Merrilee answered by pushing her glasses higher on her nose Pascal gave me a tight nod They looked about as
glum as I felt about our new school assignment Queensview Elementary has been getting grade-six students to do community service work during the last three months of the school year for as long as anyone can remember Usually everyone gets to pick from a list of places that need volunteers Soup kitchens Homeless shelters Seniors residences That kind of thing I thought the seniors would be okay I’d sit around playing cards with them and whatnot Talk about whatever war was going on How hard could that be But I was sick at home the day we made our selections Not really sick I just had an eye infection Pink eye is what they call it Supposed to be highly spreadable By the time I got back to school all that was left was cemetery duty Do you want me to call your teacher my mom had blurted as soon she found out See if someone will switch with you No one’s dying to go to the cemetery I had said which is pretty funny now that I think about it And anyway I’ll be fine She had turned away but not before I saw her frown I’ll be fine I had repeated trying to convince myself more than her I slid into the empty seat beside Pascal I was not used to seeing him out of school uniform or Merrilee for that
