Strange Sally Diamond

When Sally was nine years hold, Thomas told her that he and his wife, Jean, are not her biological parents. They told her that they found her as an infant, alone in the forest. When she learned this, Sally was frightened by the idea that she might be some sort of changeling. When her mother died (a few years before the narrative present), Sally didn’t go to the funeral and stated that she didn’t even miss her mother. At the time, Thomas said that she was lucky and would “probably avoid heartache for [her] whole life” (10). These days, Sally is aware that she thinks differently than other people do, but this does not bother her.

In the days after Thomas’s death, Sally feels aimless because there is no one to talk to or look after. Sally finds the psychological notes and files that her father kept on her, but she doesn’t read them. When her father was still alive, he was concerned about Sally’s emotional detachment, particularly her inability to feel and to understand love. Sally believes that she loved both of her parents, but she isn’t sure. Five days after Thomas’s death, a neighbor named Ger McCarthy visits to inquire about the rancid smell in the air. He doesn’t know that Thomas Diamond has died. Sally goes out to the incinerator and realizes that she didn’t properly burn the body. She goes into town for her welfare check, and when she is given her father’s pension check, she explains that she doesn’t need it anymore because her father has died. The women at the post office, Mrs. Sullivan and Mrs. Kenny, are shocked because they have never heard Sally speak aloud. When they note that they didn’t see an obituary for Thomas, Sally admits that she cremated his body herself. Sally finds a large envelope that her father addressed to her, but she decides to wait nine days until her 43rd birthday before opening it. Suddenly, her mother’s old friend Angela knocks on the door.

Dr. Angela Caffrey was once a business partner of Sally’s mother, Jean. She has remained in contact with Sally after Jean’s death. Now, Angela asks about Thomas’s death, and Sally tells her about finding her father’s body one morning. When Angela keeps asking questions about the body, Sally realizes that Angela believes she has done something wrong by putting her father’s body in the incinerator.

Angela reads the letters that Thomas has left behind for Sally. She explains to Sally that she had to call the police because only the authorities can certify a death. She also tells Sally that the police will likely search the house and ask Sally a lot of questions. The letters are copious and contain vital information no one ever knew about Sally. However, Angela advises Sally to take her time in reading the letters. She also offers to help Sally when the police ask about Thomas’s death, especially because there is now no way for the police to confirm that Thomas died of natural causes.

When the police arrive, Angela makes copies of Thomas’s letters to Sally because they show proof that he had been in poor health toward the end of his life. Sally packs a bag of clothes to stay with Angela while the police complete their investigation. Sally can’t understand why the police seem so disgusted by her.

Sally settles into the house that Angela shares with her wife, Nadine, and their two dogs. (Sally is frightened of the dogs.) Today, she goes to the police station and is photographed and fingerprinted. Two detectives named Catherine Mara and Andrew Howard interview her, along with a solicitor named Geoff Barrington, who has been appointed to Sally.

The police ask her to repeat the story of her father’s death. They laugh and mock her desire to wait until her birthday before opening her father’s letters. They ask her about her birth parents, and Sally explains that the only thing she knows or remembers is that her parents adopted her from an agency when she was six years old. Angela picks Sally up from the station and warns her that she may be charged with a crime.

Sally spends a few days with Angela, then returns home. Geoff is confident that he will be able to get the charges dropped. Angela and Geoff arrange for Sally to receive some updates, such as proper garbage disposal and direct mail delivery. Sally is frequently disturbed by unannounced visitors who keep knocking on her door to ask her questions about her adoption.

Angela gives Sally the first few letters that Thomas wrote for her. In his first letter, he asks Sally to contact Angela in the event of his death. He reveals that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He also asks to be buried in the graveyard of St. John’s Church. Sally calls Angela, who tells her that she has already started planning Thomas’s funeral at St. John’s. Sally insists that she attend the funeral, but Angela is worried about the public attention this will cause. She encourages Sally to avoid watching the news because her case has garnered national attention and emphasizes that Thomas’s letters will reveal true facts, not headlines.

A group of preteens bicycle into Sally’s yard. One of the teens, a girl, falls off her bike and hits her head. The others cycle away when they see Sally. Sally brings the girl, Abebi, into her house and tries to help her, but Abebi is afraid of Sally. While Sally lets the girl call her mother, the boys return for Abebi and throw a rock through Sally’s window. Abebi’s brother, Maduka, stays behind and apologizes for the rock. He and Abebi ask Sally if she killed her father. They commiserate with her about the rumors that have sprung up about her; as Black children who are often ridiculed at school because their race differs from that of the other students, they can identify with Sally’s sense of marginalization. Soon, their mother arrives to pick them up, and Sally wishes that she could learn more about Abebi and Maduka.

Angela comes over and chastises Sally for bringing the two children into her home. Sally doesn’t fully grasp how frightened the community is of her. Angela explains to Sally that her father was overprotective; as a result, Sally doesn’t know how to take care of herself. Angela explains how to call in a repairman for her broken window and points out that if Sally got along well with Abebi and Maduka, then perhaps she doesn’t dislike all people as much as she thinks she does.

Sally attends her father’s funeral. Police officers hold back a large crowd who want to catch a glimpse or take a photograph of Sally. Many mourners shake her hand, telling stories to explain how much her father meant to them. Abebi and Maduka attend the funeral with their parents. Their father, an immigrant from Nigeria, apologizes for the broken window. Abebi invites Sally to come to Abebi’s nativity play because Abebi has the starring role of the Virgin Mary. Sally asks Abebi’s parents if she can join them for Christmas. When Angela interferes in this awkward conversation, Sally explains that she is socially deficient.

Sally reads the next of her father’s letters. He explains to her that because new psychological studies change the field so often, there are a lot of diagnoses that Sally could have had in her lifetime, such as autism or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He writes that there is nothing wrong with Sally; she is simply different. He apologizes for enabling Sally’s self-isolation and encourages her to sell their house to Ger McCarthy and find a smaller place in Carricksheedy so that she can try living near other people. He assures her, “In the outside world, you will find more people who are kind than people who are not” (47). Sally wonders why her father would bring up the possibility of PTSD at all.

Sally goes to the post office and tries to chat with the other people there. She meets a woman named Caroline, who politely asks what Sally will do for the Christmas holidays. When Sally tells her that she might stay with Nadine and Angela, Caroline warns Sally against spending time with lesbians. Sally asks the post office worker, Mrs. Sullivan, for the phone number and address of Abebi’s mother, Martha. Mrs. Sullivan gives Sally the address for Martha’s yoga studio, but not for her home.

Sally goes to Martha’s yoga studio. Martha asks her if she would like to sign up for yoga classes. Instead, Sally asks her if she can babysit Abebi and Maduka for free. Sally’s mother always wanted her to get a job, and Sally likes Abebi and Maduka. Martha thanks her but explains that she doesn’t need a baby-sitter. She also urges Sally to consider a different job and suggests that yoga will help Sally in many different ways.

Upon receiving mail one day, Sally decides to open all of it, which she usually avoids doing. She receives a note from her mother’s sister, Christine, wishing her well and inviting her to meet. She also receives some anonymous hate mail, as well as a letter from a former schoolmate named Stella who wishes Sally well. Stella mentions how beautifully Sally played the piano and apologizes for the hurt that was done to Sally at school. Sally also receives overtures from journalists who offer to tell her story. Sally wonders why so many people seem to know more about her past than she does. She opens a box sent to her by someone named “S” and finds her childhood teddy bear, Toby.

Sally is moved and comforted by the sight of her childhood teddy bear. There is something about Toby that is eerily familiar—a sensory memory that Sally can’t remember. The narrative also reveals that Sally has vivid dreams of a thin woman with long hair who feels familiar to her. Now, Sally calls her aunt, Christine, and asks what age her own earliest memories can be traced to. Sally admits that she wonders if something bad happened to her in her childhood because all her memories start at age seven, which seems unusual. Christine tells Sally that they should speak in person. When Christine arrives, she tells Sally the difficult story of her origins.

Christine relates that Sally’s birth mother, Denise, was kidnapped by a man when she was a child and was kept captive for 14 years. Sally asks Christine to stop telling the story until Angela can come over and help explain things. While they wait for Angela, Christine helps Sally clean Toby. When Christine finds out that Toby was sent to Sally by someone named “S,” she panics. When Angela arrives, she and Christine tell Sally that she shouldn’t have touched Toby because he could be considered evidence. They examine the box in which Toby was sent and learn that it came from New Zealand. Angela instructs Sally to read her father’s last letter.