True Believer by Nicholas Sparks Page A

opportunity to make her case.”
At that moment, Rachel arrived with the sandwiches. She set both plates on the table.
“Try it,” Doris said. “You’re skin and bones, anyway.”
Jeremy reached for his sandwich and took a bite. He raised his eyebrows and Doris smiled.
“Better than anything you can find in New York, isn’t it?”
“Without a doubt. My compliments to the chef.”
She looked at him almost coquettishly. “You are a charmer, Mr. Marsh,” she said, and Jeremy was struck by the thought that in her youth, she must have broken a few hearts. She went on with her story, as if she’d never stopped.
“Back then, a lot of folks were racist. Some of them still are, but they’re in the minority now. Being from the North, you probably think I’m lying about that, but I’m not.”
“I believe you.”
“No, you don’t. No one from the North believes it, but that’s beside the point. But going on with the story, Hettie Doubilet was enraged by the folks at the county, and legend has it that when they refused her entrance to the mayor’s office, she put a curse on us white folk. She said that if graves of her ancestors would be defiled, then ours would be defiled, too. The ancestors of her people would tread the earth in search of their original resting place and would trample through Cedar Creek on their journey, and that in the end, the whole cemetery would be swallowed whole. Of course, no one paid her any attention that day.”
Doris took a bite of her sandwich. “And, well, to make a long story short, the Negroes moved the bodies one by one to another cemetery, the railroad went in, and after that, just as Hettie said, Cedar Creek Cemetery started going bad. Little things at first. A few headstones broken, things like that, like vandals were responsible. The county folks, thinking Hettie’s people were responsible, posted guards. But it kept happening, no matter how many guards they put out there. And over the years, it kept getting worse. You went there, right?”
Jeremy nodded.
“So you can see what’s happening. Looks like the place is sinking, right, just like Hettie said it would? Anyway, a few years later, the lights started to appear. And ever since then, folks have believed it was the slave spirits marching through.”
“So they don’t use the cemetery anymore?”
“No, the place was abandoned for good in the late 1970s, but even before that, most people opted to be buried in the other cemeteries around town because of what was happening to that one. The county owns it now, but they don’t take care of it. They haven’t for the last twenty years.”
“Has anyone ever checked into why the cemetery seems to be sinking?”
“I’m not certain, but I’m almost positive that someone has. A lot of powerful folks had ancestors buried in the cemetery, and the last thing they wanted was their grandpa’s tomb being broken up. I’m sure they wanted an explanation, and I’ve heard stories that some folks from Raleigh came to find out what was happening.”
“You mean the students from Duke?”
“Oh, no, not them, honey. They were just kids, and they were here last year. No, I’m talking way back. Maybe around the time the damage first started.”
“But you don’t know what they learned.”
“No. Sorry.” She paused, and her eyes took on a mischievous gleam. “But I think I have a pretty good idea.”
Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “And that is?”
“Water,” she said simply.
“Water?”
“I’m a diviner, remember. I know where water is. And I’ll tell you straight up that that land is sinking because of the water underneath it. I know it for a fact.”
“I see,” Jeremy said.
Doris laughed. “You’re so cute, Mr. Marsh. Did you know that your face gets all serious-looking when someone tells you something you don’t want to believe?”
“No. No one’s ever told me that.”
“Well, it does. And I think it’s darling. My mom would have had a field day with you. You’re so