Teddy Bump
By Sheree Renée Thomas, first published in FIYAH
A group of missing Black girls begin an ingenious plot to free themselves from an icy hellish afterlife ruled by a lonely authoritarian monster.
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Plot Summary
A group of young Black girls named Melanie, Amber, Ruby, and KeKe, enter the afterlife in a terrifying icy realm ruled by Miss Dinah, who is known to turn young Black girls into stones using a frightening whip used for jumprope. Miss Dinah uses the whip to punish girls who do not play games with her and show her affection. Miss Dinah makes the girls sing and play double dutch. Amber suggests that they play hula hoop instead, and the girls all catch on to her plot. Miss Dinah flies up to the sun to fetch some hula hoops for everyone; meanwhile, the girls braid the jumpropes. When she returns, Amber challenges her to a hula duel. Miss Dinah spins with the hula hoops and the girls lasso her with the jumprope. Ruby instructs Amber to use her knife to carve out the heart Miss Dinah has buried in the sun and throw it down to the girls to undo the hellish world they are trapped in. Amber does so, and the girls are freed from Miss Dinah's powers. Warmth and laughter returns to the realm, and the girls remember their real childhood memories.
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