Wise-cracking Wiley Cantrell is loud and roaringly outrageous -- and he needs to be to keep his deeply religious neighbors and family in the Deep South at bay. A failed writer on food stamps, Wiley works a minimum wage job and barely manages to keep himself and his deaf son, Noah, more than a stone’s throw away from Dumpster-diving. Noah was a meth baby and has the birth defects to prove it. He sees how lonely his father is and tries to help him find a boyfriend while Wiley struggles to help Noah have a relationship with his incarcerated mother, who believes the best way to feed a child is with a slingshot. No wonder Noah becomes Wiley’s biggest supporter when Boston nurse Jackson Ledbetter walks past Wiley’s cash register and sets his sugar tree on fire. Jackson falls like a wet mule wearing concrete boots for Wiley’s sense of humor. And while Wiley represents much of the best of the South, Jackson is hiding a secret that could threaten this new family in the making. When North meets South, the cultural misunderstandings are many, but so are the laughs, and the tears, but, as they say down in Dixie, it’s all good.

Shaking the Sugar Tree

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t really know you, Wiley, but I’d like to. Instead of listening to my husband tell me who you are, I thought I’d come and find out for myself. Do you suppose it’s too late for something like that?”


“It’s never too late,” I said, amazed at her painful honesty. “And I meant what I said. I would love for you to be part of Noah’s life.”


We watched Noah for a while in silence.


“He’s so fragile-looking,” she said quietly.


“His growth might pick up,” I said.


We watched Noah once more. He was reading a graphic novel, his eyes scanning the pages, puzzling out words but relying on the pictures to convey the gist of the story.


“Why don’t I call him over?” I suggested.


“I don’t know what to say to him.”


“I’ll translate for you. Just say hello. It’s not that hard.”


She put a hand to her throat again as if to consider this.


Without waiting, I got up and fetched Noah.


Chapter 41