Hello. My name is Jewell Parker Rhodes and I’m the author of Ghost Boys. Emmett appears by my side. “You’re remembered. We all are.”
One by one the ghost crew appears. “I’m at home with the whist [sic] of boys filling the cemetery. Will the murders stop?”
“One day. Got to believe, Jerome. You’ve got to believe.”
Emmett looks like an old man, even older since I’ve known him. His wariness scares me. Though a ghost, will sadness make me older and older?
I look around. I realize Ghost Boys, thousands of Ghost Boys are trying to change the world. That’s why we haven’t said goodbye, why we aren’t really gone.
“Emmett, each of us has someone who sees them. Don’t we? Someone to talk to.”
Emmett nods, “Sometimes more than one. Only the living can make the change. Who’d you talk to? Who saw you?”
“Thurgood, Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer at my killer’s trial. He won lots of civil rights battles, became a judge. Sarah is going to do good, I’d say, confident. Carlos and Kim too. Time to go.”
“Where?”
“Wandering till next time. Got to help the dead speak. Ghost Boys stick together, I say firmly. At least until there aren’t any more murders,” answers Emmett. “Until skin color doesn’t matter, only friendship, kindness, understanding, peace. That’s my wish too.”