“You’re evil,” Saundra said, then she looked at me. “She was always the evil cousin.”

I can believe it, I thought, but I only smiled.

An older, gray-haired woman suddenly blew into the room. She was big boned and smelled strongly of some sweet perfume and she swept Lisa into her arms. “Baby,” she said. “How are you, honey? Come talk to me!”

I watched Lisa get pulled away by the woman as if she were a small child obeying an elder, and Saundra turned to busy herself with a tray of small pastries. I thought I should offer to help, but instead I excused myself. I wanted to go back to the sunroom and Mama Nelle, where I’d felt a strange comfort. Even if the old woman could remember very little of the past, we shared an interest in the dusty old mural. For Mama Nelle, it was a memory. For me, the here and now. Yet we did have one thing in common, I thought, and that was Anna Dale.

Chapter 22. Anna

Chapter 22

ANNA

January 8, 1940

From the United States Treasury Department, Section of Fine Arts

Special 48-States Mural Competition

January 3, 1940

Dear Miss Anna Dale,

Thank you for sending your sketch for the Edenton, North Carolina, mural. You mentioned that you will be using models for the cartoon and I implore you to do so. While the figures in your sketch were competent, they lacked a realism that can only come through the use of live models. Similarly, I’d reconsider the color choices of the frocks on the women in the central portion of the sketch. To my eye, those particular shades of purple and blue clash against one another. Also, I would not have known the Negro woman was holding peanuts in her apron had you not told me, but I’m sure you’ll take care of adding more detail in your cartoon. I do applaud your liberal use of reds. Few of the artists have been so bold with color.

With these slight changes, the Section believes your final mural will be a success and we are enclosing a check for your first payment of $240. Please send a photograph of the full-scale black-and-white cartoon as soon as possible.

Sincerely, Edward Rowan, Art Administrator, Section of Fine Arts

Anna read the letter three times to be sure she understood. Her sketch had been accepted, and she’d actually been paid for her work. She could barely believe that doing something she loved could result in so much money. Mr. Rowan hadn’t found the sketch perfect, but perfect enough, and that was what counted at this stage. Anna had been told that he was persnickety and always had to find something he wanted corrected. That was fine. She would happily address his concerns. She already had the roll of cartoon paper. Now she could move forward.