Deep and Dark and Dangerous

Dulcie apologizes for her behavior in the morning. She asks whether she told her mother about seeing Sissy, but Ali did not. Even though Ali and Emma are sure Sissy is Teresa’s ghost, Dulcie is not entirely convinced. Kathie Trent arrives for an impromptu visit and tells Dulcie that the reporter’s wife told Jeanine Donaldson her story. Jeanine spreads this information widely, including to Teresa’s sister Linda. Emma and Ali, who are sitting nearby, witness a cat kill a bird. Emma cries and asks Ms. Trent if birds have ghosts, insisting that ghosts are real because Sissy’s existence has confirmed it. The cousins give the bird a small funeral by digging a hole, burying it in an old tissue box, and saying a few words.

Later, Sissy watches Claire and Pete’s arrival from the distance but runs off before being seen by her former playmates. The family has dinner, and Claire and Pete catch Ali up on the goings-on in her neighborhood. Ali enjoys the brief feeling of normalcy with her parents. Looking through the window at the storm raging outside, Dulcie gasps, thinking she sees someone. Emma assumes it is Sissy, but the mention of Teresa leads to Claire and Dulcie fighting about the events of that day. Claire accuses Dulcie of dredging everything up again, but Ali argues that Dulcie needed to return so Teresa could find peace. Ali explains to her confused father that the cottage is literally haunted, but Pete rejects the possibility of ghosts. Claire tries to leave the cottage to stay in a motel, but Pete refuses because of the intense weather and late hour. Instead, they spend the night on the sofa bed. Dulcie mocks Claire for wanting to sleep with the lights on but considers doing the same herself. The family retires to sleep, and Ali again encounters a waiting Sissy upstairs.

Sissy tells Ali she saw them burying the bird and is upset that the bird got “better treatment” than she did. Ali reminds her there was a funeral ceremony and a memorial erected for her, but Sissy counters that her remains are not buried there “so none of it counts” (170). Sissy says she tried to show Ali where her body is when she pointed off the cliff. She is “deep down in the cold dark water, under three big rocks” (171). Sissy, tired of being alone in the deep, wishes to be buried by the angel in the cemetery. She believes if she is properly put to rest and mourned with tears and flowers, she will stop bothering people. Seeing Ms. Trent, Dulcie, and Claire also reminds Sissy she will never grow old and makes her feel sad. When Ali tries to comfort her, she lashes out, rejecting her pity.

The following morning Ali tells Dulcie of Sissy’s wishes. Claire and Dulcie also had dreams of Teresa begging to pass on to the next world. When Emma joins them, she shares that Sissy visited her as well and told her where her bones are located. While debating how to tell the police what they know, the photographer arrives early for the shoot. Emma tells him about Teresa’s ghost and about the bones, and although he and Pete are skeptical, the potential for a career-making story is persuasive. He calls the police, who send a diver, and another reporter.

An angry Linda arrives and accosts Claire and Dulcie before the officer, Captain Wahl, can interview them. The sisters apologize and emphasize that it was an accident, and Captain Wahl pacifies her. He then interviews Emma, who explains that Teresa’s ghost, Sissy, showed her the location. As they wait for the diver, Ali notices the weather—it is a sunny day, and the water “never looked bluer” (179). After a brief search in the indicated area, the diver recovers the bones. Dulcie and Claire weep, while Pete and the photographer are aghast. Before heading back to the cottage, Sissy gives Ali and Emma a quick thumbs-up before vanishing.

In the afternoon, after the police and Linda have left, numerous people from Webster’s Cove arrive, as well as a media crew to interview the cousins. Eventually, Ali runs off to the woods to escape the commotion. There she meets Sissy, who is carrying Edith and complaining of being tired. Sissy is glad to hear there is a funeral planned in two days’ time because she is not sure how long she can remain. When she shows Ali her arm, it is almost transparent. She tells Ali she only wanted a friend and hoped Dulcie would have been that friend, but throwing the doll into the lake “ruined everything.” Ali says her aunt never expected Sissy to jump in after it, and Sissy admits it was “it was a dumb thing to do” (184). Ali assures her that everyone does “dumb” things and cries as she listens to Sissy saying she tried her best but just couldn’t swim upwards. They agree, honestly, that if things were different, they would have been friends. Ali asks Sissy if she will see her again, and she replies “maybe.”

The funeral occurs days later, just as Ali said. More than a hundred people gather in the rain for Sissy’s farewell. In the cemetery, the family cries and places flowers on the child’s coffin, which is lowered by the angel’s feet. Although her parents return home the next day, Ali decides to stay for the remainder of the summer. She and Emma spend the rest of the time swimming, building sandcastles, reading, and enjoying ice cream, while Dulcie works in her studio. Her negative opinion on the paintings changes, and she chooses the title “Deep and Dark and Dangerous, a Study of Water’s Changing Moods” for her show (186). In Ali’s opinion, the summer becomes almost “ordinary.”

On one last visit to the graveyard before returning home, Emma and Ali pick wildflowers for Sissy’s grave. They are surprised to see Edith, the doll, resting on the grave. Speaking from the shadows in a faint voice, Sissy whispers that the doll is Emma’s to keep. As Emma tries to hug her, she vanishes—“gone for good” (187). They place the flowers, bid their silent farewells, and leave Sissy to rest under the angel.