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
matter although I spotted her familiar red plastic jacket with the bunnies-and-carrots print draped over her chair I hoped they would notice my t-shirt It read Change is good You go first I like to collect sayings I’ve heard and print the best ones on t-shirts Lately I had been giving them away as gifts My dad got I’m fine with a bloodstain printed beneath the words He likes to wear it in his workshop in the garage or when he goes to the hardware store I thought that if I were to make a t-shirt for Pascal it might read There are three kinds of people those who are good at math and those who aren’t Pascal had an answer for everything even if he had to take a wild stab in the dark But I wasn’t so sure about Merrilee I didn’t know her as well as Pascal although I remembered that she was quite the archaeologist when she was little She had a peculiar habit of burying things in the school’s sandbox then later digging them up Maybe her t-shirt would read X marks the spot The cemetery work crew we were assigned to arrived in full force all three of them Students I’d like you to meet the Twillingate Cemetery Brigade This is Mr Creelman Mr Preeble and Mr Wooster Loyola announced
Each one glowered more fiercely than the next All three stood dripping in their raincoats Loyola eyed the stack of books that Merrilee had been leafing through and quietly moved them to another table for protection Creelman broke away from the trio His thick white eyebrows reminded me of a portrait of my grandfather that I’d done back in grade one I had been really inventive by gluing on cotton balls for his eyebrows No sense cleaning grave markers today he announced digging out a thick wad of wrinkled yellowed notes from inside his raincoat pocket Instead you’ll have your first lesson on how to read weathered stones Creelman paused Was he expecting us to clap All he got was the sound of rain slamming against the cheerless stained glass above our heads Let’s see how much you know Creelman said plowing along even without applause What are most of our nineteenth-century stones made out of Nineteenth century Pascal repeated You mean the Not old Weathered Creelman barked pounding the really old ones table for effect I startled Merrilee flinched Concrete Pascal guessed undaunted As I said he had an answer for everything but even I
