"had been this little flower of southern gentility"

Ole Miss' graduation weekend, and I think of the U.S. Army marching in. I remember the state ratifying the abolition of slavery in 1995, but the ratification is still not official because the paper was not sent to the U.S. government. 1984, the year my dear, matriculating sister was born, was when Mississippi ratified the amendment which gave women the vote.

In a nightgown I had been using as a dress I took a long walk into a thunderstorm, lightning with five starred points. Halfway to the little wooden house the tornado sirens started up and we hid in a car wash. When we got to his house, my best childhood friend gave me red long johns and he danced with his dog, Wyatt.