The Book of Lost Friends

Hannie, still disguised as a boy and leading the horse with the two white girls draped across its saddle, is exhausted after two days walking through the oppressive heat of the swamp. She is terrified by the thought of wild animals, and she is hungry to the point of collapse. Neither of the girls say much. Hannie knows she needs to find a place where they can rest and recover. She happens upon a small structure, a “little old place tucked in the trees, low roofed and built of cypress logs chinked with straw and tabby” (160). She recognizes it as a church, most likely built by enslaved people before the war. She moves everyone into the church, grateful for the shelter. For the next several days, the three camp out in the church and eat the meagre food they find there. Then one morning (Hannie deduces it must be Sunday) she hears the approach of people singing an old Black spiritual. Hannie, desperate, steps out of the church and shouts to the stunned parishioners, “Need help. Need food…You carryin’ mercy in your soul today, sister?” (165).

For the next four days, the church members take care of the three strangers.