Outside, Leo peed on the dew-wet pine needles near the house, then jogged up the road. This time at Paper Boulevard he went right towards downtown. He could see the red pumps of the Esso station up ahead, the raised wooden plank walks in front of the stores. The sun’s light was just beginning to open from the east, spreading out over the town, and all along the road was a shifting layer of mist an inch or two high. Leo ran across the empty street for the Fremont and the Green. He glanced over at the gazebo, then ran faster into Beatrice’s lot where he turned around and jogged back through town and past Saunders Hill. His right knee felt a little stiff, his back too. When he was a quarter-mile past the break in the trees he headed for home and sprinted the last hundred yards or so to his road. He pulled the rolled newspaper from the mailbox, bent over, and rested his hands and the paper on his knees. Part of one of the headlines was about twenty GIs getting killed. He straightened up and walked down the hill, still catching his wind. The mist had lifted and he could see the first of the sun on the river.

They spent the morning and the first part of the afternoon going over their show list, playing whatever numbers they were unsure of. Ryder wanted to give a two-hour performance but Jim talked him down to an hour-and-a-half performance with a ten-minute intermission halfway through. That would be roughly twenty-five songs, but they’d put thirty on the playsheet to be safe. Big Bill Broonzy was going to lead the list with his “Louise, Louise Blues.” That was Jim’s idea. It wasn’t a real slow number, but not jumping fast either, and it could hold both harps so all of Katie Faye’s Band could light right in at the start. From there they would swing into some Johnny Shines, Pinetop Perkins, and Champion Jack Dupree. Ryder suggested they bring it back down every three or four songs and Jim agreed. Leo said Jim should sing “Natchez Burning” the way he had the other night in front of Helena, that was something. So Jim started writing up a short list of downhearted tunes that they could fold into the show whenever it got too hot: some Homesick James, Honeyboy Edwards, Sleepy John Estes. He wrote down a lot of numbers Leo didn’t know but Ryder said not to worry, backup on all of them was easy as spit.