Summary

In the Prologue, narrator Cowney Sequoyah talks about the importance of what is buried in the ground, saying it is “the beginning of the story” (1). He is going to relate the events of the summer of 1942, when he first met “her” (later identified as Essie Stamper). They lived in Cherokee until they both set out to work at the Grove Park Inn and Resort in Asheville, North Carolina. Though Cowney says he was saving for college, he was actually unsure about anything other than his need to get away from Cherokee. He mentions several events that were important in his life that year, including “the barbed wire that destroyed my father,” a little girl who died, and Cowney's discovery of a strange bone. He talks about his reaction to the bone and the power it would have over his life. Cowney says...