The River and Me

Sunflowers

After school, Gran E waits outside in her car with Bud buckled into the front seat. Evette climbs into the back, turning the day over in her head. Gran E doesn’t push when Evette admits school wasn’t what she expected.

As they cross the bridge over the Anacostia River toward her house, Gran E explains her plan. They’ll stop for vegetables from the garden, then deliver them to the food pantry at the new Riverfront Community Center. Bud frets that pantry food might end up smeared on the center’s art gallery walls. Gran E assures him the staff has that covered. Evette reminds him families in the community need help.

At Gran E’s redbrick house, Bud heads out back to dig potatoes while Evette’s phone buzzes. Makena has reposted Evette’s photo and tagged her! Evette wants to send a picture of Gran E’s butterfly scarf in return. She dashes upstairs, passing a photo of Grandpa Paul, Gran E’s late husband, who died before Evette was born. Digging through Gran E’s closet, she doesn’t find the scarf. But tucked behind purses, she discovers something wrapped in tissue paper: a bright yellow one-piece swimsuit covered in sunflowers, her favorite flower.

Forgetting about the scarf, Evette carries the swimsuit downstairs to show Bud, who’s harvested tomatoes, carrots, and squash. Gran E’s smile fades the moment she spots it. She admits she wore it once, to a public pool, as a girl. As soon as she stepped to the edge, White children mocked her and ordered her out, insisting she wasn’t welcome. Gran E never wore the swimsuit again. Instead, she found a better place to swim, a swimming hole on the river.

When Bud suggests she swim with them at Grandma and Grandpa Peeters’ pool this weekend, Gran E turns sharp, insisting she wouldn’t get in that pool if someone paid her. Evette and Bud fall silent. After a moment, she mutters something about it being too far to travel. Neither child presses for an explanation. Gran E tells Evette she’s welcome to keep the swimsuit.

Evette, holding it, gets an idea. They should bring flowers to the community center, too. Bud points out that people can’t eat flowers. Evette counters that a bouquet makes a nice gift, congratulating the center on its opening. Gran E agrees.

Evette steps outside to clip sunflowers for the bouquet, admiring their fiery orange color, unlike the yellow she expected. Gran E explains that different seeds produce different colored sunflowers; these are Mexican sunflowers.

When Gran E was little, she was kicked out of a pool because of the color of her skin. Today, Ziggy asked Evette about her race. But none of that tells him what kind of friend Evette is. Why do people think skin color defines who we are?