Free Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught Page A

true?
    The sad thing is, Oops, it won’t make any sense to you unless you understand where I came from and what I was dealing with back then. It’s so far away in time now, kids your age, they don’t get the facts anymore. They don’t learn about what really happened, not all of it. So I want you to read along here on this last manuscript I’ve been trying to finish, a time line of our state’s history and how it relates to the Civil Rights Movement. In the final analysis, this is my history, and it’s yours too. Read it carefully before you read about Avadelle and Night on Fire. Understand it before you judge me—and before you judge her.
    That’s all that was on page four. Somewhere in those sentences, my heart had started beating so hard I could feel it at the top of my throat. Indri’s mouth had come open, and when she gazed up at me, her eyes had gone all lemur.
    â€œSo, she’s going to tell us?” she whispered.
    â€œYeah.” My fingers played along the edges of the manuscript. Part of me wanted to snatch up the papers and read ahead fast until we got to that part, but page four seemed to be asking for a promise that we wouldn’t do that.
    â€œShe wants us—me—to read it all in order so we understand the fight when we get to it. It’s her ghost story, right? She should be able to tell her story her own way, like Ms. Manchester would.”
    Indri groaned, but she nodded. “We should follow her rules and read everything in order—but I have two rules of my own.”
    The sudden edge in Indri’s tone made me grimace, but what could I say at this point, after not telling her about the secret for two whole weeks?
    Indri held up one finger. “First, no reading without me. If we don’t get it finished today and you read a little ahead, you tell me right away.”
    Well, that wasn’t too bad. “Agreed.”
    â€œSecond, don’t keep any more secrets.” Two fingers now, and a glare, right into the back of my eyeballs.
    â€œUm, okay.” Was I smiling? That might not be a good idea, but I couldn’t help it. This felt like the most normal moment in my life since Locker Horror on the last day of school.
    I slid page four aside, and we looked at page five. It had a staple in the corner, and some attached documents. I left them alone and studied what was on the paper. Indri did, too, careful to keep her pastel-stained fingers away from the white paper. It was just a list of dates and events, like a section straight out of our Mississippi history class.
1817
Mississippi granted statehood.
1848
University of Mississippi founded (not called “Ole Miss” until the 1900s).
1861
J ANUARY –Mississippi becomes the second state to declare secession from the Federal Union, and to join the Confederate States of America.
 
M AY –Company A of the 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment in the Confederate Army forms. Only four students stay at Ole Miss, so the college closes for the duration of the war.
 
S EPTEMBER –American Civil War begins.
1862
J ANUARY –Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.
 
A PRIL –The first of 18 named Civil War battles in Mississippi is the Siege of Corinth (April 29 to May 30, 1862). Grant wins and uses his position in Corinth to take control of theMississippi River Valley and Vicksburg.
 
J ULY –Last day of the battle of Gettysburg. Pickett’s Charge. The University Grays are all killed or wounded. Half of the 12,500 Confederate soldiers in the charge die. Possibly the turning point of the entire Civil War.
1864
The last named Civil War battle in Mississippi is the Siege of Vicksburg.
1865
A PRIL –The Civil War officially ends. Lincoln assassinated days later.
 
N OVEMBER –The Black Codes are enacted.
    â€œSome of this stuff is from camp today,” I said. “Interesting.”
    â€œWhat are those papers stapled to