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Back Come Again No More Save as PDF
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover
  3. Title Page
  4. Contents
  5. PART I 
  6. 1.
  7. 2.
  8. 3.
  9. 4.
  10. 5.
  11. 6.
  12. 7.
  13. 8.
  14. 9.
  15. 10.
  16. 11.
  17. 12.
  18. PART II 
  19. 13.
  20. 14.
  21. 15.
  22. 16.
  23. 17.
  24. 18.
  25. 19.
  26. 20.
  27. 21.
  28. 22.
  29. 23.
  30. 24.
  31. 25.
  32. 26.
  33. 27.
  34. 28.
  35. 29.
  36. 30.
  37. PART III 
  38. 31.
  39. 32.
  40. 33.
  41. 34.
  42. 35.
  43. 36.
  44. 37.
  45. 38.
  46. 39.
  47. PART IV 
  48. 40.
  49. 41.
  50. 42.
  51. 43.
  52. 44.
  53. 45.
  54. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  55. Touchstone Reading Group Guide

“I’m not a little girl. I’ll talk to you any way I please. You’re running a still and behaving like a harlot. You put on all these airs but you’re nothing more than a common criminal.”

“By God, you got a mouth on you, girl. You keep runnin it and I’ll whale the tar out of you.”

Emaline picked up a pitchfork. “You aren’t going to whale on anyone around here. You touch me and we’ll see if Jake is strong enough to pull this pitchfork out of your guts.”

Luella laughed. “Well, aint you the feisty one. Listen, I do what I got to do to keep the law off my still, but from now on, I’ll tell the fellas to meet me down at the basement house. Would that satisfy you?”

Emaline was about to agree when Jake burst into the barn. He had been down working a horse when he heard the commotion and walked in to find his wife holding a pitchfork aimed at his sister.

“What the hell’s goin on?”

Luella waved him away. “Not a thing, Jake. Me and Emaline had a little difference of opinion, but we got it all worked out. You never told me she was such a little spitfire.”

After that, Dexter McGuinty came out to the farm once or twice a week. Orie Bassett always turned up on Mondays and Fridays. Dexter would come Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once in a while, one or the other would arrive on a Saturday. Never once did Syl Whiting appear. Emaline’s opinion of Syl went up considerably. With Luella’s carrying on, Emaline felt that she had no choice. She sent a note to Bobby explaining that she and Jake were still trying to get the main house livable. She suggested that maybe it would be better if he stayed in Wyoming and went to school with Eli’s kids for this one year.

With the end of Prohibition that winter, factory liquor was flowing again and the market for corn liquor dried up overnight. Luella broke up her still and sold it for parts. The following spring, she went to a camp meeting and came back full of religious fervor for Aimee Semple McPherson and the Foursquare Gospel church. She took the train to California, stayed six months, and returned to the North Platte Valley as an ordained Foursquare Gospel minister, trusted to carry the word of the Lord to the sinners of the world. Luella was a born preacher. She had fervor, the gift of gab, a ready-made tale of a woman who had sold her soul to the devil in order to manufacture demon rum until Aimee Semple McPherson showed her the error of her ways. One of her first converts was Sheriff Orie Bassett. He became Luella’s third husband.

23.