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The original Maybelle had died years ago, about the tiiven a fresh coat of paint But Eudora tradition dictated that any woman who ran the place was referred to as “Maybelle”

Occasionally a shoe salesht or two at Maybelle’s Once or twice a yeara trial And there were, inevitably, ru the rooms for “business”

A monk would have felt at home in my room: a narrow iron bed, a small oaken desk with a perilous wobble, and an equally wobbly cane-backed chair On the bureau were an enameled-steel bowl and pitcher And under the bed, a chamber pot for those times you didn’t want to make the trip to the outhouse

In the corner of the rooed to ad the day and to hold it inside all night

I stripped down to my Roxford skivvies and positioned the chair directly in front of thatI suspected there was no breeze to be had in town that night Luckily,technology: a squared-off cardboard fan with the inscription “Hargitay’s Mortuary Parlor, The Light of Memphis”

A lonelywith his bare feet propped up on a sill, waving a funeral fan at his face

Welcome home, Ben

Chapter 26

IT WAS TOO DAMN HOT for sleeping I figured I ht as well do some detective work in my room

I had put aside tspapers froht fro

These particular articles were of special interest Froes of the Jackson Courier, they told the stories of lynchings that had taken place right here in Eudora, and within the past three years

I unfolded the first paper:

Word of an horrific death by strangulation reached our office this ed scene, no trace of said hanging was evident, save for a bloodied rope tossed aside in a pile of swarass

The unanswered questions were obvious Who told “this reporter” that the death was “horrific”? Why was he so careful to use the word “alleged”?

I picked up the other newspaper