Lilac Mines by Cheryl Klein

Author:Cheryl Klein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Manic D Press, Inc.

Danis Hogan - Editor In Chief

Danis Hogan, Jr. - Deputy Editor, Senior Reporter

Barrett Lyman - Reporter

Olive Hogan - Printer

Calla Hogan - Assistant Printer

The last name is in tiny, smudgy type, but it screams like a war headline. North and South Main used to be called Calla Boulevard, Anna Lisa had mentioned. Why would the town name a street after the assistant printer at the newspaper? Did she do something heroic? If her family ran the paper, surely they’d report it if she did.

Felix sits on the edge of her chair and slides sheet after sheet of microfiche under the magnifier, dates both before and after August 24th. But there are no headlines about Calla Hogan. She didn’t win a pie bake-off, and she definitely didn’t rescue Lilac Ambrose from the mine.

Felix pauses at September 11, 1899. It’s weird, how September 11th was just September 11th back then, not September 11th. It was the day that something called Good-Bye, My Lady opened at the Silver Bird Theater, and another day that no one found Lilac Ambrose. Felix locates the masthead, hoping to find that Calla Hogan has been promoted to reporter. Kick that Barrett Lyman’s ass, girl, she thinks.

But Calla isn’t there at all. Felix works backward. September 10th, not there. September 9th, not there. The last day that her name appears on the masthead is August 26th. She left the paper just after Lilac left forever.

Just in case the babysitter sprinkled some truth in with her stories, Felix asks Henrietta/Brittany if she knows anything about Calla Hogan’s semi-simultaneous, seemingly silent disappearance. She doesn’t, but she does produce a city social register from 1899. Felix scrolls the brittle book of names, addresses and professions. For the most part, only the men’s professions (“miner,” “miner,” “doctor,” “newspaperman,” “miner”) are listed. The few women who aren’t wives have titles like “teacher” and “widow.”

Felix scans the pages for Moon Avenue addresses. Who was Lilac visiting that day? The register is listed alphabetically by name, not address, and there is no index. Painstakingly, she copies:

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