Chapter 19
Elixir of Life, July 12, 1918
- Jinx spends the summer doing odd jobs, like welding. Turns out he's the one who made Miss Sadie's awesomely unusual gate. Cool.
- He also helps Velma T. make her elixir, and Sister makes him do a few assignments, too. Not so cool…
- But mostly he fishes. He finally feels safe from his uncle and the sheriff.
- Shady's cleaning up his saloon in the morning after having a slow night.
- No Germans showed up because they were meeting about the awful conditions in the mines.
- Jinx brings in a huge catfish he just caught, and when it weighs in at just under ten pounds, Shady sticks an apple in its mouth to tip the scale.
- Just then, Sheriff Dean comes in.
- He's there to pick up his illegal alcohol. Wait—the sheriff?
- He also tells Shady that he's on the lookout for a pair of guys—one older, one younger—who killed a man a few months back. Dun dun dun…
- The sheriff of the town where it happened is his brother-in-law, so he asked Sheriff Dean to help him.
- He starts looking around Shady's place, finds another jug of whiskey, and tells him he'd better give him twice as much by tomorrow, or he'll shut him down. Sounds more like the mafia than a sheriff.
- Shady tells him he can't make it that fast, so Sheriff Dean takes Jinx's catfish—and says he'll be back tomorrow. Ugh.
- After he leaves, Shady tells Jinx he knows he's involved, but he also can tell it wasn't his fault. Such a good guy.
- Smelling the cork from the whiskey, Jinx has an idea. He tells Shady to meet him in the alley behind Velma T.'s that night.
- They meet in a dark shed, where Velma T. has had Jinx bottling her elixir.
- Jinx shows Shady that Velma's medicines smell like whiskey, too, and suggests that he give some of her stuff to Sheriff Dean tomorrow. Maybe he won't be able to tell the difference.
- They decide to take some of her elixir now and refill her half-empty jugs with Shady's whiskey as soon as it's ready.
- A few nights later, they're back, refilling her bottles. Sheriff Dean didn't notice a thing—and neither did Velma T. Victory!
- As they head back home, though, they see a cross burning in front of the German Fraternal Hall—the Ku Klux Klan has left their calling card.
HATTIE MAE'S NEWS AUXILIARY: July 20, 1918
- The town is feeling pretty low after the cross burning. And on top of that, people are starting to get sick.
- Mrs. Larkin was feeling bad, so she took some of Velma T.'s elixir before attending her Women's Temperance League meeting. And hmmm, for some reason, she was acting pretty goofy afterwards…
- Also, sadly, a widow in town—the Widow Cane—has died.
- Sizer's Stomach Tablets: Get rid of all your gas tonight.