November 19, 2006
From: Dr. Anna Ravelo; Ocotillo, CA
To: Dr. Taylor Garcia; San Diego, CA
Re: The Washburn Girl
Dear Darling Taylor,
Did you know that you were named after the street in Old Town
where your parents first met each other? It's still such a lovely street and
is the entrance to Old Town, birthplace of California and also the Ravelo
family. I know that you of everyone in our family appreciates the connection
between person and place, and that's why I'm trusting you to lead this journey.
Please try to get everyone - the Ravelos, the Garcias, the Souzas,
the Fremonts / Williams - to understand these old stories that illuminate
how I came to be the person I was and am and how I acquired the treasure in
St. Augustine, FL that everyone wants. Here is one story about something that
touched me when I was a very young lady, still living with your Great Grandparents.
You and your relatives should call for more information when you understand.
A little girl that I used to babysit died in a terrible accident
while she was playing in an old house near Taylor Street with some other Anglo
kids. Legend has it that the house was built over an old cemetery, so the
ghosts from there or the nearby gallows must have caused the accident. That
little Washburn girl visited me in my dreams my whole life and still haunts
the old house to this very day. A friend of mine told me that the little girl's
ghost left this cryptic message on the wall in chaulk: KFG QKW JPL JGB HEK
PQL QHR BPQ KOB U. Strange indeed, but I like imagining her playing with some
leftover chalk and practicing her letters and being overcomed by laughter.
All My Love,
Aunt Anna