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

“Let’s take pictures, shall we?” Jackson said loudly when Noah pulled away.


“Who wants their picture taken with Iron Man?” I asked.


Like a bunch of tourists, they all did. I was happy to oblige.


“Well, I must go back to Hollywood,” Jackson said.


“You don’t live in Hollywood,” Eli pointed out.


“I’ve got a meeting there with…Beyoncé!” Jackson exclaimed.


Don’t you want to ask him something? I prompted.


Can you take care of my mom? he signed to Jackson in deadly earnest.


I don’t need to, Jackson signed. She went to heaven to talk to Jesus.


Okay, Noah said. Can you take care of my dad, too, and help him find a good job?


Noah hugged him again, which prompted a bit of a free-for-all as the kids grabbed at Iron Man’s arms, trying to get his attention.


“Okay!” I said. “Iron Man has to go to Hollywood! Tell Iron Man goodbye!”


Chapter 83