My Queen in Calico

When Sammy met Hazel, he wasn't sure what to think of her. The older kids said she was cursed or something. The adults suggested that there was something wrong with her cause her momma never married her daddy. And there was something wrong with Marie Levesque, something weird and frightening. But Hazel, she seemed alright.

They worked together at a stable. Sammy quickly found out that Hazel loved horses. When they got to ride, she looked like she was part of the horse. Her brown curls would bounce with the horse's steps and her gold eyes would shine. It was the place where Hazel was happy. And her happiness made her more beautiful.

Sammy called her Hedy Lamarr as a bit of a joke - beautiful brown and gold Hazel looked nothing like porcelain Lamarr - and he meant it. She was smart like Lamarr and beautiful, and she caught on to Sammy's plans to mock the bullies. Hazel didn't deserve to be treated like hellspawn, like she was cursed and deserved punishment for it. Hazel was almost perfect.

Sammy was pretty sure he loved her.

They went riding together after school, when the bossman needed horses exercised. It was like being on a date, the way that rich white kids did it. Hazel laughed at Sammy's jokes and poor attempts at flirting and sometimes would shyly flirt back. Maybe. Sammy couldn't be sure with Hazel, but that was good with him. Not knowing what exactly she thought of him kept him on his toes.

He kept the jewel she made, even though she told him not to. Even though she told him that it was bad news. He kept it because it was a token of hers, a unique and special thing that no other girl could give anyone else. It was a piece of Hazel.

Sometimes, Sammy dreamed about the future and what it would look like with Hazel. He daydreamed about what their kids might look like, about what family get togethers would look like (without Queen Marie), about evenings cuddling under the stars well into their eighties. He was thirteen and full of hope.

Queen Marie took that hope away when she took Hazel away. No one knew where. And most people didn't care. Sammy cared. He missed Hazel. Missed the way her face would light up at the stables, even though the riders treated her like she was nothing. Missed the way she'd laugh, even at his worst jokes. Missed that there would be no future with Hazel the way he'd dreamed.

Sammy got married and had kids. He loved his wife, he did. But part of his heart belonged to Hazel Levesque, his Hedy Lamarr. What he couldn't understand was why she never came back to New Orleans.

Sometimes, when Sammy was old and cradling Esperanza's baby Leo he would sing softly (You were my queen in calico, I was your bashful blushing beau, You wrote on my slate "I love you so", when we were kids) with Hazel on his mind.

"You'll find her, Leo. And you tell her that Sammy loved her to the end."