Cotton-Tree Ghosts

On a bright, glassy, sun-hot Sunday, while everyone else is napping, young Sherena sneaks off to pick almonds from her favorite trees at the edge of town. But when she gets there, instead of her trees, she finds a house with gardens and old-fashioned white people. Then, before her eyes, the scene fades and sends her running home as fast as she can. Her father explains that she was lucky enough to see the ghosts of the wealthy family that had once owned all of the surrounding land before they were all drowned in a sudden flood caused by the earthquake of 1692.