The Fire This Time

Walters remarks on how little she considers the reality of slavery, despite her descending from slaves. Her avoidance, in fact, comes from denial of slavery’s ugly truths and its existence throughout America, not just the South. 

Walters spends time at home in New England during winter 2006. She feels pain throughout her body she suspects comes not from illness but loneliness. She reads a book about divesting oneself of optimism and becoming a realist. Amidst current events such as the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Walters focuses on celebrity gossip. She listens to the news on the radio to focus on other matters besides herself. 

She travels to New Orleans to help her great-aunt Louise after Hurricane Katrina damaged her home. Walters’s mother drives her to the family crypt to ensure the storm did not disturb any of their graves. Walters cannot find her family’s crypt since the markers are gone. She remembers her previous visit to this cemetery ten years ago and how similar it still looks, despite how New Orleans had changed.

Her mother calls her to the car, and they gather with Aunt Lou and her friend who also suffered during the hurricane. The older women scorns Walters for trying to disturb the dead at the cemetery, but Walters argues that she is checking on their family.