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Authors: Julianna Kozma
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small white house. “I usually come down from Summerside to stay here during the hot weather. Grandpa told me he cuts the grass at your place and said I should introduce myself. So here I am. Want to go visit a cemetery?”
“What?” choked Hannah, unexpectedly uttering her first word since Jack came on the scene. “What are you talking about?” She stared at Jack, unsure if he was the type of person who would turn into a werewolf on a full moon. A cemetery, of all things! Although … he certainly had a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“There’s a really cool cemetery in French River that not many tourists know about,” said Jack, bending towards Hannah in his eagerness to convince the unwilling. “Grandpa’s going to visit my uncle Fred after supper. He lives down near the harbour and he can take us with him. The cemetery is not far from there. It might be a bit dark by the time we get there, but I can borrow a big flashlight. Grandpa’s got one of those that he claims gives off a million candle lights worth of brightness.”
“My dad bought one that has two million candles,” boasted Emily. “He’s a flashlight junkie. The bigger, the better. He has a whole bunch of them. And going to this cemetery, especially in the dark, is just plain crazy. Only stupid people would even think of doing that.”
“What’s so special about this place?” interrupted Hannah, still wondering what Jack was all about. She also noticed his sudden odd behaviour. Jack kept looking around as if a ghost or something was eavesdropping on his conversation. He also looked a bit nervous, constantly licking his lips. It was a change from his jovial introduction. Emily, in the meantime, took three steps back and away from Jack, eying him with much skepticism.
“You know how ships used to sink in the sea in the old days because of the wild storms?” he whispered conspiratorially. “Well, there are a whole lot of shipwrecks scattered around there. Where do you think the bodies disappeared to? I’ll tell you! They got washed up on our beaches. The locals who found them didn’t want to go far to bury the bodies so they planted them nearby. My cemetery is one of the burial grounds people used for the sailors who died during the Yankee Gale. Guess what it’s called?”
Silence.
“Yankee Hill Pioneer Cemetery. Original, huh?”
Jack paused for effect, expecting screams. Better yet, maybe Hannah would fall into his arms and ask for his protection. That would be great. She was really pretty, with her long dark hair. What a smile. And she had freckles too. Dark skin and freckles. Imagine that.
Silence.
Jack laughed. Girls! They were afraid of their own shadow. No one of the female persuasion had ever taken him up on his offer. Not that he was disappointed much. Graveyards were not exactly his thing either. He much preferred playing a good game of Mission Impossible on his Nintendo. But he also liked showing off, and most of the girls thought he was really brave for even suggesting such a thing. And he definitely wanted to impress his new neighbour.
“Okay, we’ll go,” said Hannah finally. There was absolutely no hesitation. “But I’m going to ask our friend Lucy to come with us. We usually go to the Cavendish Cemetery and do grave rubbings. I like to hang the rubbings in my room. They’re really interesting. I found one last year of 10-year-old girl called Leila Rose. She died in 1888. There was a lamb carved on her white tombstone. I thought it was pretty cool.”
Jack Jack’s mouth hung wide open.
“What’s wrong, Jack? Your chin’s touching your shoes!” Emily smiled, all innocent-like. “Did you actually think we would say no?”
Hannah also smiled to herself. People were always shocked when she mentioned her grave rubbings. She loved doing them. Tombstones, especially in the older graveyards, had so many stories to tell. Her mom found a really interesting one last year in Cavendish. A woman died at the age of
“What?” choked Hannah, unexpectedly uttering her first word since Jack came on the scene. “What are you talking about?” She stared at Jack, unsure if he was the type of person who would turn into a werewolf on a full moon. A cemetery, of all things! Although … he certainly had a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“There’s a really cool cemetery in French River that not many tourists know about,” said Jack, bending towards Hannah in his eagerness to convince the unwilling. “Grandpa’s going to visit my uncle Fred after supper. He lives down near the harbour and he can take us with him. The cemetery is not far from there. It might be a bit dark by the time we get there, but I can borrow a big flashlight. Grandpa’s got one of those that he claims gives off a million candle lights worth of brightness.”
“My dad bought one that has two million candles,” boasted Emily. “He’s a flashlight junkie. The bigger, the better. He has a whole bunch of them. And going to this cemetery, especially in the dark, is just plain crazy. Only stupid people would even think of doing that.”
“What’s so special about this place?” interrupted Hannah, still wondering what Jack was all about. She also noticed his sudden odd behaviour. Jack kept looking around as if a ghost or something was eavesdropping on his conversation. He also looked a bit nervous, constantly licking his lips. It was a change from his jovial introduction. Emily, in the meantime, took three steps back and away from Jack, eying him with much skepticism.
“You know how ships used to sink in the sea in the old days because of the wild storms?” he whispered conspiratorially. “Well, there are a whole lot of shipwrecks scattered around there. Where do you think the bodies disappeared to? I’ll tell you! They got washed up on our beaches. The locals who found them didn’t want to go far to bury the bodies so they planted them nearby. My cemetery is one of the burial grounds people used for the sailors who died during the Yankee Gale. Guess what it’s called?”
Silence.
“Yankee Hill Pioneer Cemetery. Original, huh?”
Jack paused for effect, expecting screams. Better yet, maybe Hannah would fall into his arms and ask for his protection. That would be great. She was really pretty, with her long dark hair. What a smile. And she had freckles too. Dark skin and freckles. Imagine that.
Silence.
Jack laughed. Girls! They were afraid of their own shadow. No one of the female persuasion had ever taken him up on his offer. Not that he was disappointed much. Graveyards were not exactly his thing either. He much preferred playing a good game of Mission Impossible on his Nintendo. But he also liked showing off, and most of the girls thought he was really brave for even suggesting such a thing. And he definitely wanted to impress his new neighbour.
“Okay, we’ll go,” said Hannah finally. There was absolutely no hesitation. “But I’m going to ask our friend Lucy to come with us. We usually go to the Cavendish Cemetery and do grave rubbings. I like to hang the rubbings in my room. They’re really interesting. I found one last year of 10-year-old girl called Leila Rose. She died in 1888. There was a lamb carved on her white tombstone. I thought it was pretty cool.”
Jack Jack’s mouth hung wide open.
“What’s wrong, Jack? Your chin’s touching your shoes!” Emily smiled, all innocent-like. “Did you actually think we would say no?”
Hannah also smiled to herself. People were always shocked when she mentioned her grave rubbings. She loved doing them. Tombstones, especially in the older graveyards, had so many stories to tell. Her mom found a really interesting one last year in Cavendish. A woman died at the age of
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