King and the Dragonflies

Twelve-year-old Kingston “King” James is mourning the sudden death of his older brother, Khalid. He imagines that Khalid has returned as a dragonfly. He looks for him when he walks by the bayou near his Louisiana home, where dragonflies with “ghostlike wings” flit through the air (1).

One afternoon, when he is walking home from school, a rusting white pickup truck stops near him. Inside the truck is Mikey Sanders. King is frightened because he knows Mikey Sanders is suspected of helping to kill a Black man. Mikey is the grandson of a KKK member, and he fought with King’s brother Khalid and called him the N-word.

However, Mikey doesn’t threaten King. Instead, he says, “Sorry about your brother” (4). He offers King a ride. King declines the offer. Mikey then starts to say something but stops himself: “You know, your brother—” (5). He then leaves.

King reveals that he believes Khalid is now a dragonfly because during his brother’s funeral, a dragonfly flew in the window and landed on the casket as the choir sang. He also remembers his father crying at the funeral despite his dad’s assertion that “boys don’t cry” (8).