Jane. Jane Edwards. Everyone she met thought it was funny she had the same name as the elementary school.* But she was not that Jane Edwards.
Our Jane Edwards was from upstate South Carolina. She had been going to Edisto every fall for 10 years before she finally moved down there. She used the money she inherited when her parents died to buy a house on the corner of Lee and Baynard, about 3 blocks from the ocean.
Jane loved living in Edisto Beach. She walked all around town, loved the beach, and explored the whole island. She never met a stranger, was a beloved "Edistonian", and was famous for her pink flip flops, She wore them unless it snowed, and since it never snows on Edisto, she wore them all the time.
She was also quite eccentric. You would see her out and about every day for a month or two, then nobody would see her for a week. And she never explained! "Where ya been, Jane? We missed you!" "Oh y'know how it is, every 30 days there's a new moon." Everyone laughed, but no one ever knew what she meant.
One day they heard rumblings about Matthew. No one thought much about it at first, but then it grew, and grew, and kept coming. Everyone was glued to the Weather Channel, wondering if Jim Cantore would be visiting their beloved island. It was a sobering day when Governor Haley issued the evacuation order. Everybody packed up and headed inland. Well, not everyone. A few hardy souls remained, determined to ride out the storm.
The Governor made the right call. Matthew hit Edisto. Hard.
Now everyone was trying to get information: What happened? How bad is it?? When can we go home???
Then they saw the photo. And they knew. That was Jane's shoe. Phone calls, emails, texts, "Has anyone seen Jane?" "When was the last time you talked to Jane?" No one knew anything and they couldn't call Jane - she didn't have a phone. So they called each other and the Edisto News, the newspaper which posted the photo. "Where's our Jane?"
Such sadness filled the hearts of Edistonians. Their island, their beach, their houses had been severely damaged by Hurricane Matthew, and their friend was missing. Where was Jane Edwards?
About a week after the storm, the Mayor of Edisto Beach, Jane Darby, got a phone call. "Hey, Mayor! It's me!" Jane Edwards always called Jane the Mayor 'Mayor' because, well, they were both named Jane. "Can I come back yet?"
"Jane? Is that you? Where are you? What happened?"
And Jane explained that she had gone up to southern Ohio to visit her sister, and when she heard about the hurricane and evacuation, she just stayed up there. "My sister showed me the photo of my flip flop in the middle of the road. Isn't that too funny? I left my flip flops home because you never know when it's gonna snow up here. Isn't that hilarious?"
Mayor Jane was quiet for a moment as tears of joy and relief rolled down her cheeks, then she explained everything to our Jane. "I'm so glad you're OK. Yes, you can come home. And Jane, I don't care what you say, you're gettin' a cell phone when you get back!"
Jane Edwards returned to Edisto Beach. She repaired the minor damage to her house and eventually found another pair of pink flip flops. Oh yeah, she got a cell phone.
The moral of our little story is this: Whenever you leave home for more than one night, secure your flip flops, 'cause you never know what might happen while you're gone!
* Jane Edwards Elementary School, Edisto Island
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