The Last Carolina Girl

Leah wakes to rain the following morning, intuiting how the weather will affect her father’s workday. Harley is a lumberjack working to clear-cut land intended for development in Brunswick County, North Carolina, and eventually the Outer Banks. Harley surprises Leah with shrimp in her grits, a luxury the family cannot afford. He lies, telling Leah that he ate his share while she slept. As Leah attempts to protest, she experiences an “episode” during which she blacks out. Harley looks concerned when Leah regains consciousness, and Leah can tell that her episode ran longer than her others. Challenged with “spells” resembling epileptic seizures for most of her life, Leah’s family doctor could never explain her condition.

Leah walks to school with Jesse Barna, Mr. Barna’s son. Mr. Barna is the Payne’s landlord, and he owns several businesses essential to the town of Supply, North Carolina, in Brunswick County. Jesse typically walks several paces ahead of Leah as they approach the school, at Leah’s insistence. They are close friends, spending most of their mornings and evenings together playing in the woods. Leah and Jesse race each other to the school building, though Leah can tell that Jesse doesn’t exert himself to his fullest. The other children tease Jesse for losing to a girl.

In class, Jesse receives high marks on an essay about his future goals: to assume responsibility for his father’s businesses. Most of the girls in class write about becoming mothers. Leah writes about building a house on the beach, complete with artwork featuring the ocean. She receives lower marks for not thinking up a “feasible” life plan even though the assignment asked the children to write about their desires for the future. When Jean-Louise, another student, defines “feasible,” Leah is reminded of a time when Jean-Louise teased her about her short name. Leah thinks of her mother, Emma, who died during childbirth after naming her, and she finds Jean-Louise’s name to be a mouthful.

Ideally, Jesse wants to live next door to Leah on the beach, a dream both of them find impossible. She tells Jesse that he can visit her. Leah ponders ownership, specifically how Mr. Bana lays claim to several parts of the world that existed long before him and will live on long after he’s gone.

Leah opens Chapter 2 by confessing to misbehavior. When Maeve, Leah’s stray cat, visits her after school, she feeds her a piece of fish, though Harley would disapprove. Tulla, the Barnas’ maid, scolds Leah for spoiling the cat. Leah and Tulla comment on the breezy changes to the weather while observing the trees. Tulla gives Leah three crayons.

Leah allows Maeve to come inside the house. The cool breeze slips through the cracks in the walls, and Leah is reminded of a powerful hurricane that scared her and Harley as they moved furniture to keep the doors closed. Leah remembers Harley explaining that he and Emma wanted more for her.

Distracted, Leah begins coloring on the floor. She draws a beautiful, ornate rug and imagines her house with nicer furnishings and decorations. Later, when Harley arrives home from work, he scolds Leah for marking the floor. Harley makes Leah confess her graffiti to Mr. and Mrs. Barna. Leah looks at the Barnas’ beautiful interior of their large house and thinks of the furniture in each bedroom. She cries as she promises to clean her marking.

Harley gives Leah a young oak sapling and a beautifully colored seashell for her 14th birthday. He gives Leah these same gifts every year before they journey to Emma’s grave to plant the sapling and place the shell on the pile. Harley tells Leah a story about Emma while they carry out their annual traditions. In hindsight, Leah wishes she had asked Harley more about Emma, as this was (unknowingly) her last birthday with him.

Leah loves hearing about how her parents met: At the announcement of the end of World War I, the people of Raleigh flooded the streets in celebration. Harley grabbed a beautiful woman and kissed her. He followed her home to an upper-class two-story house and waited out front under an oak tree for her to visit with him. Harley comes from a low-income family; he refuses to share the details of the couple’s elopement until Leah is older.

Later, Jesse approaches as Leah stargazes with Maeve. He disappears briefly when Leah says that it’s her birthday. Leah remembers when Jesse nearly lost his foot to an oncoming train. His laces got caught between the tracks—had Leah not followed Jesse into the forest that day, the train would have struck him. Jesse returns with a biscuit for Leah but regrets not having cake as a gift. They sit together and talk about the stars. Jesse mentions Leah’s “spells” and asks if she recently experienced one. Jesse wishes that he could see the stars during the day. He points to a star and tells Leah that she can have it as her birthday present.

Leah wakes from a nightmare, wanting Harley’s comfort, but he has already left for work. She prepares for school, donning her too-small winter coat. In her hindsight perspective, Leah recalls this day with exceptional clarity. Her teacher surprises the class with a map quiz; Leah feels more confident with objective assessments. Tom, the class bully, teases Leah for taking extra time to finish the quiz. He trips her when she walks to turn in her work. During reading time, the class is startled by a sudden thunderclap—rare in winter—followed by a hailstorm. Jesse slips on the ice as they walk home together.

Mrs. Barna calls Jesse and Leah into the Barnas’ house after school, which is unusual. Leah looks in wonder, as she always does, at the Barnas’ expensive house and furnishings. Mrs. Barna sends Jesse to his room and invites Leah into the kitchen for tea. Mrs. Barna gently tells Leah that Harley died from a work accident during the hailstorm. In years to come, Leah investigates her father’s death, learning that the thunderclap startled the horses carrying an unsecured lumber load. Although Harley tried to move away, he slipped on the ice, and the logs tumbled onto him.

Mrs. Barna tells Leah that she will live in the Barnas’ house for now, though Leah respectfully expresses her desire to live in the same cabin next door. Mrs. Barna insists that Leah needs adult supervision, and Tulla helps Leah settle into a guest room. Leah sees Maeve out in the cold; she relates to the stray cat, feeling a loss of family and home.

Leah walks to her and Harley’s cabin, unable to sleep, seeking comfort and familiarity. Maeve follows her into the cold house and curls up next to Leah, who settles under Emma and Harley’s quilt. Tulla finds Leah early the following day, scolding her for scaring the Barna family by disappearing from her bed. Leah follows Tulla to the Barnas’ house with her quilt and photo of her parents.

An iced-over tree branch crashes onto the cabin moments after Tulla and Leah exit the threshold. Leah runs toward the cabin, though Mrs. and Mr. Barna shout for her to stay back. Jesse appears, stopping Leah and holding her while she sobs.

The Barnas hold a small funeral service for Harley, celebrating him as a good man and hard worker. They bury him next to his wife. Leah lingers after the funeral attendees depart. She rearranges the pile of her birthday shells disturbed during funeral preparations and wishes for a shell to put on Harley’s grave. Mrs. Barna reluctantly allows Leah to skip school over the next several weeks. Leah helps Tulla with domestic chores and runs to her parents’ graves as frequently as possible.

Leah spots a beautiful shell in Jesse’s room and feels pulled to the object several times. One day, Jesse catches her in his room, and she drops and shatters the shell. Mrs. Barna rushes to Jesse’s room at the sound of the crash. She calmly instructs Tulla to clean the mess. Several days later, Jesse finds Leah rearranging her shells in the woods. He tells Leah that he misses her and discusses what is happening at school. Leah feels comforted by Jesse; she believes he understands her shock at suddenly being an unhoused orphan. Mrs. Barna finds the children in the woods together, and Leah alludes to future arrangements that Mrs. Barna will make for Leah’s living situation.

Leah overhears Mr. and Mrs. Barna discussing her new living situation: a family with three daughters, one of whom is close in age to Leah. The discussion upsets Leah, but she eavesdrops when Mrs. Barna emotionally remembers promising Emma to protect Leah. They worry about Leah’s “spells” and how that might affect her relationship with her new foster family. Mr. and Mrs. Barna tentatively agree that Leah will enjoy a better life in her new home.

Mrs. Barna asks Leah to help with gardening chores. While they work, Mrs. Barna shares stories about Emma and Harley when they arrived at Supply. Mrs. Barna remembers Leah’s parents as kind people experiencing challenging circumstances. Leah asks if she can stay in the cabin, advocating for her abilities to work and care for herself. When Mrs. Barna declines, Leah runs to the back of the property.

She eventually makes her way to Harley’s hazardous cabin, the fallen tree still pushing through the roof. She enters even though she knows doing so is unsafe. Maeve follows. Jesse soon finds Leah and enters the cabin; he compliments Leah’s crayon drawing of a rug that Leah never cleaned. Jesse reveals his shell pieced and glued back together. He leads Leah to Harley and Emma’s gravesites and places the shell on Harley’s grave. Jessa makes Leah promise to attempt to get along with her new foster family, allowing them to get to know her. Jesse escorts Leah back to the Barnas’ house, pointing out Leah’s star and complimenting it for its uniqueness.

When Mr. Barna tells Leah that she will leave imminently for her foster home, Leah asks one last time if she can live in the cabin. Mr. Barna declines, and Tulla helps Leah tie up her few belongings in her family’s quilt. Leah runs to Harley and Emma’s gravesite one final time. She places Jesse’s shell to her ear, imagining the ocean and her cherished beach visits with Harley. She says goodbye to her deceased parents and promises to behave. Although Leah tries to leave feeling optimistic, she foreshadows difficult times to come.