THE WOMEN

If you had asked us what we felt as we sat around the lopsided circle in the chill of that dusty, murky room, we probably couldn’t have put words to the feelings. Maybe we would have murmured something about how unexpected friendships were forged in times of trouble. Something about how dire circumstances can both tear people apart and bind them together. Something about seeing how trauma has affected someone else might loosen something stuck and rigid in ourselves.

We might have also mentioned that although none of us believed in ghosts, not really, we were beginning to suspect that when you scratch the surface of a place with so much history and such deep power, unexplained and possibly uncanny things can slip up through the cracks.

Perhaps we wouldn’t have told you this for fear of your ridicule or your condemnation, but we felt the presence of Harriet and Rebecca and the other lost women Lexi collected joining us in our circle. They didn’t say anything, and never really came into clear focus, but we all knew they were there. And they were joyful to be welcomed.