Daughters, Born of Mud Alezandra Tolliver

Behind the Curtain of Farish, Mississippi

Farish is a fictional town based several ones located in the Mississippi delta. Its history and culture is based on cities and towns located in Issaquena, Washington, and Warren Counties. The time period is set summer in the late 90s. During the early 90s, larger counties on the rivers began to open casinos after the legalization of gambling in order to boost the state's economy that declined because of the automation of farming and overtaking of individual farming for corporate agribusiness. Individuals that didn't participate in the Great Migration, or a mass exodus of rural African Americans into northern, industrious cities, that began around 1910, struggled with finding work, pursuing education, and accessing healthcare. Community ties strengthened among black people as they pushed for civil rights that were met with violent resistance by the white locals. Immigrant communities all meshed their own culture with that of those from the Delta, a big part of the exchange being food and music. A phenomena that speaks of the veil of silence that falls over a town, specially towns in Mississippi, when something occurs but the community chooses not to speak on it is called the magnolia curtain. There is no real explanation for where it comes from, but some assume it stems from the long history of racial tension of the South that garnered a huge amount of distrust in police or people of power since even though the communities were largely black, those positions were typically held by white people. Speaking up about injustices rarely brought about real change, and sometimes It was better to protect your families from the life-threatening repercussions of speaking up. There is also a culture of keeping your personal issues in your house, and it being more polite to put on facade of a happy home than burden others. Ironically, this also plays into gossip culture where it's the norm the pursue information of your neighbors while also acting as if you don't know anything when speaking to that particular person.

Sapphire gets a call from her estranged sister who confesses to killing her boyfriend. She rushes over to find a tear-stained Talia and dead Eric on the floor. Quickly, they work to hide the body then split up to go on as normal while figuring out their next steps. Sapphire gets frequent visits from Lincoln Brooks, her ex and lead investigator, who feels as though they are lying. Sapphire suggests they give the police something to chase, so they leave part of his arm at a nearby reservoir. As word spreads through town, like the night their mother was arrested for attempted murder, the pair butt heads as they confront that time plus the many others that drove a wedge between them. They learn that both have been visiting their mother Jackie in prison and visit her together. She offers weak advice and forbids them from returning. They have a close call with police, but by luck,Terry, an associate of Eric, presents a new suspect, and they remain unfound. From that moment, they come up with the plan to involve the whole town in his death. They trick Terry into revealing Eric’s local dealings and implicate several of the local big figures in the murder. The community buckles as their secrets are revealed and force Lincoln to stop investigating. Lincoln still holds his suspicions of the sisters, but he can’t bring himself to pursue it any longer. Talia moves in to Sapphire's place with promises to protect each other forever.

“I should explain,” Talia said.

Safe shook her head. “It don’t matter. We need to do this now.”

Safe went to the back of the shed and grabbed a saw. Talia stepped back and folded her arms around herself. Safe returned to the workbench where Eric laid. Talia crept up until she felt her looming presence over her shoulder. It reminded her of when they were young, and Talia would hide behind her legs while at the store.

“He don’t look like he’s sleeping,” Talia said.

“What,” Safe asked. She faced her.

In all the chaos, she didn’t get a chance to look at her. It only had been 4 years but that was enough to become a whole other person. Her nails were chewed to the quick, and she’d lost weight. She’d long grown taller than her, but still she looked so tiny Safe could cradle her. She didn’t. The light in her round eyes, that twinkle she used to call starshine when they were kids, was gone. They looked empty like when deer got shot so clean they just laid there while everything about them soaked into the ground.

“Well, people say the dead look like they’re sleeping, but he looks more, well, dead," Talia said.

Safe rolled her eyes. “I reckon it’s because he is.”

“He look empty.”

“Focus, Tallie. Lincoln knows something’s up.”

“How do you know?”

“I know Lincoln.”

It was only a few hours until daylight and they still had to make it look like no one’s been messing around Jericho’s shed before they left. She went from his arm and leg, before settling at his arm. Her palms grew slick and her heart beat against her ribcage like a rabid animal. But it was the only thing they could do.

“We don’t need much,” she said out loud to no one. She pressed the saw against the inside of his elbow, trying to recall how Jericho used the same saw on a gator last summer. She’d make it up to him. She didn’t know when, and he wouldn’t know why, but she would. Jericho being gone for fishing season on the coast saved their skin. Just as she was about to slide the blade across his skin she stopped and looked up at Talia. She paused before shoving the saw into Talia's chest.

“You do it.”

Talia gaped. “Why me?” She dropped it and stepped back. “Why do we need to do that at all?”

“You think I just know how to get rid of a body? Lie to police. No. I’m figuring this out right along with you.” She retrieved the saw from the ground and held it to Talia’s chest. “We just need to bide some time, make them chase their tails for a while. Get them looking somewhere else, so I can fucking think.”

Talia stared at Safe, and she suddenly felt small. Guilt rose like bile in Safe’s throat. She slunk to the sink and filled the nearest glass with water before gulping it down. It was crazy. She knew it, but she also knew she didn’t know what else to do. She ran her fingers through her hair.

“Okay,” Talia said.

Safe faced her again.

“Just a little bit,” she asked.

Safe nodded.

Talia gripped the saw with trembling hands and placed it in the same spot Safe did. As she went to cut, she stopped herself. She stared into the empty-faced Eric before turning his head away towards the wall as if he could see. As if he knew what was happening to him. She sawed into his arm and it took everything in her not throw up. Her faced felt hot and her body shook, and it was only when Safe crossed the room that she realized she was crying. But Safe didn’t cross the room to comfort her. Instead, she turned Eric’s head back so that it was facing her. His dead-fish eyes bore into her. She kept cutting.

“You know how momma let us sit with our burns after we touched the stove, so we wouldn’t do it again,” Safe asked. “What you’re feeling right now, I want you to sit in it. I want you to see it looking back at you. Because if by some miracle we make it out of this, I want to make damn sure you never do anything this stupid again.”