There are 133 cemeteries in Delawre that you can view online. There is one outside Seaford, Delaware. It is remote and has been described as a poor person’s cemetery; all sand and weeds, many with metal grave markers. Access to it is only through a dirt path off the main road. It does not appear online.
Seaford is about 30 mile away from Slaughter Neck, Delaware, an African-American community, southwest of the somewhat more upscale Delaware Bay town of Slaughter Beach. Slaughter Beach, which like many towns in the area dates back to the 1700s or earlier, houses the Mispillion Lighthouse, the only wooden lighthouse still standing in Delaware.
There is nothing to visit in Slaughter Neck, but Margaret E. Smith, the self-described black Liz Tayor without money, grew up and remained in the farming community. Her dad was an ice man, farmer and factory wqrker and her mom a domestic. Margaret ran a beauty shop in Slaughter Beach until she retired. At 89 she had some heart problems and took medication for it.
Margaret went out shopping in Milford, Delaware for presents for the kids of her siblings who were coming for Easter. She was approached by two girls, 14 and 15, as she stopped for ice cream at a convenience store. They offered to pay her for a ride in her Buick LaSabre so that they could get to the other side of town. Margaret offered them a ride for free. The route became increasingly circuitous, before they forcibly took the car keys from her. They dumped her in the trunk and took a joy ride. It was mid-March and the weather was still cold, but Margaret sustained it and the jossling as they drove the car to West Rehoboth, Delaware. There they opened the trunk, took the $500 that Margaret had for presents, and locked her in again. The girls checked into a Days Inn and spent the night there with their friends.
The next day they drove to the cemetery outside of Seaford and dumped Margaret there. Without shoes, she started crawling through the cemetary. She had no idea where she was. Her hands were worn and her knees bloodied when she was found two days after she offered the girls a ride. There was no paparazzi to take the black Liz’s picture.
This could be the basis for a short story, but it is fact. The story by New York Times reporter Dan Barry made the front page of Saturday’s paper and was picked up by other media.
I can’t help but wonder from where these vile children came. They have been arrested. There may be a short story in their background. There usually is.