Free On Agate Hill by Lee Smith

the berries to Liddy who gave us some clabber to eat and then we ran straight up the stairs to this cubbyhole where we keep all our collections.
    Now , I said.
    And Mary White said Yes and took it out of her bloomer pocket where we had wrapped it round and round in honeysuckle vines so no one could tell what it was. Careful, be careful, she said as I started slowly pulling the vines away. She jiggled up and down on one foot and held her breath the way she does when excited. Her pale blue eyes were huge. I took my time unwrapping it. But finally it lay revealed on the floor, the bones of a HUMAN HAND minus two fingers and the thumb.
    I had almost stepped on it as we were walking home. Just in time I looked down to see two finger bones sticking up out of the ground like flower bulbs growing. It was like they were pointing at the sky. Oh my God, I cried, then, Stop!
    They ran back.
    Look! I pointed down.
    Lord Jesus. Washingtons eyes got real big when he saw it. Less go on now please Molly. Less us go on home.
    What! Mary White looked all excited. Then she stuck out her bottom lip. Why we will do no such thing. We are going to dig him up for our phenomena collection, arent we Molly? For this is a poor brave dead soldier.
    Oh yes, I said. You all just stay right here , while I ran back to the creek and got two flat rocks for digging. I handed one to Washington. He wouldnt take it.
    All right then. I gave it to Mary White. She got down on her knees immediately and started scraping the dirt away. Be careful, she said. We want to keep him all hooked together if we can. Remember that song? How does it go? Then she sang, Headbone connected to the neckbone, neckbone connected to the backbone —
    Now hear you the word of the Lord! I sang at the top of my lungs.
    But the hand was not connected to anything else, and we didnt find any more bones there either, though we dug for a pretty long time.
    Washington refused to help us. Yall is crazy girls, he said from the shade of a tree.
    We wrapped the bones in honeysuckle and washed off our hands good in the creek before we left. Now the bones are here in a fancy little box I have had forever, just waiting.
    And sure enough, when we asked Uncle Junius about the creek, he said, YES there was indeed a skirmish there toward the end of the war, some of the county home guard surprised by Shermans bummers, and three men dead.
    Mary White knows how to do very fancy handwriting with many curls and flourishes. On the shoe box she has written, YANKEE BONES , Property of Mary White Worthington and Molly Petree. This is the jewel of our phenomena collection so far.

August 11, 1872
    Dear Diary,
    Though Blanche still plays with us sometimes, we had not seen Victoria for days and days. Washington told us she had got in some trouble, but he would not say what kind. So it was a big surprise when she ran in the barnyesterday and threw herself down in the straw and smiled her wide crooked smile which works on Mary White every time.
    Well where have you been? Mary White said. And where is Sarah? Dont you want to play dolls?
    I am not playing dolls no more, Victoria said. She is all arms and legs now, she has grown up a lot this summer. Her eyes are that dark snapping black like her mothers.
    What do you want then? I wanted to get on with our game, in which Margaret and Fleur were getting ready to take a trip to New York City.
    I dont know. I just thought I would come over here and find you all. Victoria sighed, which was strange. Usually she is all sass, all get-up-and-go.
    Victoria, what happened to your leg? Mary White shrieked, and then I saw it too, the blue imprint of a hand on her pale white thigh.
    That was your mama, wasnt it? I said. She hit you.
    That is nothing, Victoria said. Looky here. She leaned forward and hiked up her bottom turning slightly so we could see the welts and bruises on the backs of her legs.
    Ooh. Thats awful. Mary White shivered.
    What did you do? I asked.
    I reckon I have got me a