[Part 2] "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo

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CHAPTER XIV.

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Sometimes, I told Gloria the story Miss Franny Block had just told me.

Or I imitated Otis tapping his pointy-toed boots and playing for all the animals, and that always made her laugh.

And sometimes, I made up a story and Gloria Dump would listen to it all the way through from beginning to end.

She told me she used to love to read stories, but she couldn’t anymore because her eyes were so bad.

“Can’t you get some really strong glasses?” I asked her.

“Child,” she said, “they don’t make glasses strong enough for these eyes.”

One day, when the storytelling was done, I decided to tell Gloria that Otis was a criminal.

I thought maybe I should tell an adult about it, and Gloria was the best adult I knew.

“Gloria?” I said.

“Mmmm-hmmm,” she said back.

“You know Otis?”

“I don’t know him.

But I know what you tell me ’bout him.”

“Well, he’s a criminal.

He’s been in jail.

Do you think I should be afraid of him?”

“What for?”

“I don’t know.

For doing bad things, I guess.

For being in jail.”

“Child,” said Gloria, “let me show you something.”

She got up out of her chair real slow and took hold of my arm.

“Let’s the two of us walk all the way to the back of this yard.”

“Okay,” I said.

We walked and Winn-Dixie followed right behind us.

It was a huge yard and I had never been all the way back in it.

When we got to a big old tree, we stopped.

“Look at this tree,” Gloria said.

I looked up.

There were bottles hanging from just about every branch.

There were whiskey bottles and beer bottles and wine bottles all tied on with string, and some of them were clanking against each other and making a spooky kind of noise.

Me and Winn-Dixie stood and stared at the tree, and the hair on top of his head rose up a little bit and he growled deep in his throat.

Gloria Dump pointed her cane at the tree.

“What you think about this tree?”

I said, “I don’t know.

Why are all those bottles on it?”

“To keep the ghosts away,” Gloria said.

“What ghosts?”

“The ghosts of all the things I done wrong.”

I looked at all the bottles on the tree.

“You did that many things wrong?” I asked her.

“Mmmm-hmmm,” said Gloria.

“More than that.”

“But you’re the nicest person I know,” I told her.

“Don’t mean I haven’t done bad things,” she said.

“There’s whiskey bottles on there,” I told her.

“And beer bottles.”

“Child,” said Gloria Dump, “I know that.

I’m the one who put ’em there.

I’m the one who drank what was in ’em.”

“My mama drank,” I whispered.

“I know it,” Gloria Dump said.

“The preacher says that sometimes she couldn’t stop drinking.”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” said Gloria again.

“That’s the way it is for some folks.

We get started and we can’t get stopped.”

“Are you one of those people?”

“Yes ma’am.

I am.

But these days, I don’t drink nothing stronger than coffee.”

“Did the whiskey and beer and wine, did they make you do the bad things that are ghosts now?”

“Some of them,” said Gloria Dump.

“Some of them I would’ve done anyway, with alcohol or without it.

Before I learned.”

“Learned what?”

“Learned what is the most important thing.”

“What’s that?” I asked her.

“It’s different for everyone,” she said.

“You find out on your own.

But in the meantime, you got to remember, you can’t always judge people by the things they done.

You got to judge them by what they are doing now.

You judge Otis by the pretty music he plays and how kind he is to them animals, because that’s all you know about him right now.

All right?”

“Yes ma’am,” I said.

“And them Dewberry boys, you try not to judge them too harsh either, all right?”

“All right,” I said.

“All right then,” said Gloria Dump, and she turned and started walking away.

Winn-Dixie nudged me with his wet nose and wagged his tail; when he saw I wasn’t going, he trotted after Gloria.

I stayed where I was and studied the tree.

I wondered if my mama, wherever she was, had a tree full of bottles; and I wondered if I was a ghost to her, the same way she sometimes seemed like a ghost to me.

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CHAPTER XV.

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The Herman W. Block Memorial Library’s airconditioning unit didn’t work very good, and there was only one fan; and from the minute me and Winn-Dixie got in the library, he hogged it all.

He lay right in front of it and wagged his tail and let it blow his fur all around.

Some of his fur was pretty loose and blew right off of him like a dandelion puff.

I worried about him hogging the fan, and I worried about the fan blowing him bald; but Miss Franny said not to worry about either thing, that Winn-Dixie could hog the fan if he wanted and she had never in her life seen a dog made bald by a fan.

Sometimes, when Miss Franny was telling a story, she would have a fit.

They were small fits and they didn’t last long.

But what happened was she would forget what she was saying.

She would just stop and start to shake like a little leaf.

And when that happened, Winn-Dixie would get up from the fan and sit right at Miss Franny Block’s side.

He would sit up tall, protecting her, with his ears standing up straight on his head, like soldiers.

And when Miss Franny stopped shaking and started talking again, Winn-Dixie would lick her hand and lie back down in front of the fan.

Whenever Miss Franny had one of her fits, it reminded me of Winn-Dixie in a thunderstorm.

There were a lot of thunderstorms that summer.

And I got real good at holding on to Winn-Dixie whenever they came.

I held on to him and comforted him and whispered to him and rocked him, just the same way he tried to comfort Miss Franny when she had her fits.

Only I held on to Winn-Dixie for another reason, too.

I held on to him tight so he wouldn’t run away.

It all made me think about Gloria Dump.

I wondered who comforted her when she heard those bottles knocking together, those ghosts chattering about the things she had done wrong.

I wanted to comfort Gloria Dump.

And I decided that the best way to do that would be to read her a book, read it to her loud enough to keep the ghosts away.

And so I asked Miss Franny.

I said, “Miss Franny, I’ve got a grown-up friend whose eyes are going on her, and I would like to read her a book out loud.

Do you have any suggestions?”

“Suggestions?” Miss Franny said.

“Yes ma’am, I have suggestions.

Of course, I have suggestions.

How about Gone with the Wind?”

“What’s that about?” I asked her.

“Why,” said Miss Franny, “it’s a wonderful story about the Civil War.”

“The Civil War?” I said.

“Do not tell me you have never heard of the Civil War?” Miss Franny Block looked like she was going to faint.

She waved her hands in front of her face.

“I know about the Civil War,” I told her.

“That was the war between the South and the North over slavery.”

“Slavery, yes,” said Miss Franny.

“It was also about states’ rights and money.

It was a terrible war.

My great-grandfather fought in that war.

He was just a boy.”

“Your great-grandfather?”

“Yes ma’am, Littmus W. Block.

Now there’s a story.”

Winn-Dixie yawned real big and lay down on his side, with a thump and a sigh.

I swear he knew that phrase: “Now there’s a story.”

And he knew it meant we weren’t going anywhere real soon.

“Go ahead and tell it to me, Miss Franny,” I said.

And I sat down cross-legged next to Winn-Dixie.

I pushed him and tried to get him to share the fan.

But he pretended he was asleep.

And he wouldn’t move.

I was all settled in and ready for a good story when the door banged and pinch-faced Amanda Wilkinson came in.

Winn-Dixie sat up and stared at her.

He tried out a smile on her, but she didn’t smile back and so he lay down again.

“I’m ready for another book,” Amanda said, slamming her book down on Miss Franny’s desk.

“Well,” said Miss Franny, “maybe you wouldn’t mind waiting.

I am telling India Opal a story about my great-grandfather.

You are, of course, more than welcome to listen.

It will be just one minute.”

Amanda sighed a real big dramatic sigh and stared past me.

She pretended like she wasn’t interested, but she was, I could tell.

“Come sit over here,” said Miss Franny.

“I’ll stand, thank you,” said Amanda.

“Suit yourself,” Miss Franny shrugged.

“Now where was I?

Oh, yes.

Littmus.

Littmus W. Block."

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CHAPTER XVI.

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Littmus W. Block was just a boy when the firing on Fort Sumter occurred,” Miss Franny Block said as she started in on her story.

“Fort Sumter?” I said.

“It was the firing on Fort Sumter that started the war,” said Amanda.

“Okay,” I said.

I shrugged.

“Well, Littmus was fourteen years old.

He was strong and big, but he was still just a boy.

His daddy, Artley W. Block, had already enlisted, and Littmus told his mama that he could not stand by and let the South get beat, and so he went to fight, too.”

Miss Franny looked around the library and then she whispered, “Men and boys always want to fight.

They are always looking for a reason to go to war.

It is the saddest thing.

They have this abiding notion that war is fun.

And no history lesson will convince them differently.

“Anyway, Littmus went and enlisted.

He lied about his age.

Yes ma’am.

Like I said, he was a big boy.

And the army took him, and Littmus went off to war, just like that.

Left behind his mother and three sisters.

He went off to be a hero.

But he soon found out the truth.”

Miss Franny closed her eyes and shook her head.

“What truth?” I asked her.

“Why, that war is hell,” Miss Franny said with her eyes still closed.

“Pure hell.”

“Hell is a cuss word,” said Amanda.

I stole a look at her.

Her face was pinched up even more than usual.

“War,” said Miss Franny with her eyes still closed, “should be a cuss word, too.”

She shook her head and opened her eyes.

She pointed at me and then she pointed at Amanda.

“You, neither of you, can imagine.”

“No ma’am!” Amanda and me said at exactly the same time.

We looked real quick at each other and then back at Miss Franny.

“You cannot imagine.

Littmus was hungry all the time.

And he was covered with all manner of vermin; fleas and lice.

And in the winter, he was so cold he thought for sure he would freeze to death.

And in the summer, why there’s nothing worse than war in the summertime.

It stinks so.

And the only thing that made Littmus forget that he was hungry and itchy and hot or cold was that he was getting shot at.

And he got shot at quite a bit.

And he was nothing more than a child.”

“Did he get killed?” I asked Miss Franny.

“Good grief,” said Amanda.

She rolled her eyes.

“Now, Opal,” Miss Franny said, “I wouldn’t be standing in this room telling this story if he was killed.

I wouldn’t exist.

No ma’am.

He had to live.

But he was a changed man.

Yes ma’am.

A changed man.

He walked back home when the war was over.

He walked from Virginia all the way back to Georgia.

He didn’t have a horse.

Nobody had a horse except for the Yankees.

He walked.

And when he got home, there was no home there.”

“Where was it?” I asked her.

I didn’t care if Amanda thought I was stupid.

I wanted to know.

“Why,” Miss Franny shouted so loud that Winn-Dixie and Amanda Wilkinson and me all jumped, “the Yankees burned it!

Yes ma’am.

Burned it to the ground.”

“What about his sisters?” Amanda asked.

She moved around the desk and came and sat on the floor.

She looked up at Miss Franny.

“What happened to them?”

“Dead.

Dead of typhoid fever.”

“Oh no,” Amanda said in a real soft voice.

“And his mama?” I whispered.

“Dead, too.”

“And his father?” Amanda asked.

“What happened to him?”

“He died on the battlefield.”

“Littmus was an orphan?” I asked.

“Yes ma’am,” said Miss Franny Block.

“Littmus was an orphan.”

“This is a sad story,” I told Miss Franny.

“It sure is,” said Amanda.

I was amazed that she was agreeing with me about something.

“I am not done yet,” Miss Franny said.

Winn-Dixie started to snore, and I nudged him with my foot to try to make him quit.

I wanted to hear the rest of the story.

It was important to me to hear how Littmus survived after losing everything he loved.

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CHAPTER XVII.

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Well, Littmus came home from the war,” said Miss Franny as she went on with her story, “and found himself alone.

And he sat down on what used to be the front step of his house, and he cried and cried.

He cried just like a baby.

He missed his mama and he missed his daddy and he missed his sisters and he missed the boy he used to be.

When he finally finished crying, he had the strangest sensation.

He felt like he wanted something sweet.

He wanted a piece of candy.

He hadn’t had a piece of candy in years.

And it was right then that he made a decision.

Yes ma’am.

Littmus W. Block figured the world was a sorry affair and that it had enough ugly things in it and what he was going to do was concentrate on putting something sweet in it.

He got up and started walking.

He walked all the way to Florida.

And the whole time he was walking, he was planning.”

“Planning what?” I asked.

“Why, planning the candy factory.”

“Did he build it?” I asked.

“Of course he did.

It’s still standing out on Fairville Road.”

“That old building?” said Amanda.

“That big spooky one?”

“It is not spooky,” said Miss Franny.

“It was the birthplace of the family fortune.

It was there that my great-grandfather manufactured the Littmus Lozenge, a candy that was famous the world over.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” said Amanda.

“Me neither,” I said.

“Well,” said Miss Franny, “they aren’t made anymore.

The world, it seems, lost its appetite for Littmus Lozenges.

But I still happen to have a few.”

She opened the top drawer of her desk.

It was full of candy.

She opened the drawer below that.

It was full of candy, too.

Miss Franny Block’s whole desk was full of candy.

“Would you care for a Littmus Lozenge?” she asked Amanda and me.

“Yes, please,” said Amanda.

“Sure,” I said.

“Can Winn-Dixie have one, too?”

“I have never known a dog that cared for hard candy,” said Miss Franny, “but he is welcome to try one.”

Miss Franny gave Amanda one Littmus Lozenge and me two.

I unwrapped one and held it out to Winn-Dixie.

He sat up and sniffed it and wagged his tail and took the candy from between my fingers real gentle.

He tried to chew on it, and when that didn’t work, he just swallowed the whole thing in one big gulp.

Then he wagged his tail at me and lay back down.

I ate my Littmus Lozenge slow.

It tasted good.

It tasted like root beer and strawberry and something else I didn’t have a name for, something that made me feel kind of sad.

I looked over at Amanda.

She was sucking on her candy and thinking hard.

“Do you like it?” Miss Franny asked me.

“Yes ma’am,” I told her.

“What about you, Amanda?

Do you like the Littmus Lozenge?”

“Yes ma’am,” she said.

“But it makes me think of things I feel sad about.”

I wondered what in the world Amanda Wilkinson had to feel sad about.

She wasn’t new to town.

She had a mama and a daddy.

I had seen her with them in church.

“There’s a secret ingredient in there,” Miss Franny said.

“I know it,” I told her.

“I can taste it.

What is it?”

“Sorrow,” Miss Franny said.

“Not everybody can taste it.

Children, especially, seem to have a hard time knowing it’s there.”

“I taste it,” I said.

“Me, too,” said Amanda.

“Well, then,” Miss Franny said, “you’ve probably both had your share of sadness.”

“I had to move away from Watley and leave all my friends,” I said.

“That is one sadness I have had.

And Dunlap and Stevie Dewberry are always picking on me.

That’s another sadness.

And the biggest one, my biggest sadness, is that my mama left me when I was still small.

And I can hardly remember her; I keep hoping I’ll get to meet her and tell her some stories.”

“It makes me miss Carson,” said Amanda.

She sounded like she was going to cry.

“I have to go.”

And she got up and almost ran out of the Herman W. Block Memorial Library.

“Who’s Carson?” I asked Miss Franny.

She shook her head.

“Sorrow,” she said.

“It is a sorrow-filled world.”

“But how do you put that in a piece of candy?” I asked her.

“How do you get that taste in there?”

“That’s the secret,” she said.

“That’s why Littmus made a fortune.

He manufactured a piece of candy that tasted sweet and sad at the same time.”

“Can I have a piece to take to my friend Gloria Dump?

And another one to take to Otis down at Gertrude’s Pets?

And one for the preacher?

And one for Sweetie Pie, too?”

“You may have as many as you want,” said Miss Franny.

So I stuffed my pockets full of Littmus Lozenges and I thanked Miss Franny for her story and I checked out Gone with the Wind (which was a very big book) and I told Winn-Dixie to get up, and the two of us left and went over to Gloria Dump’s.

I rode right past the Dewberrys’ house.

Dunlap and Stevie were playing football in the front yard and I was just getting ready to stick my tongue out at them; but then I thought about what Miss Franny said, about war being hell, and I thought about what Gloria Dump said, about not judging them too hard.

And so I just waved instead.

They stood and stared at me; but when I was almost all the way past, I saw Dunlap put his hand up in the air and wave back.

“Hey,” he hollered.

“Hey, Opal.”

I waved harder and I thought about Amanda Wilkinson and how it was neat that she liked a good story the same as I did.

And I wondered again . . . who was Carson?

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CHAPTER XVIII.

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When we got to Gloria Dump’s, I told her I had two surprises for her and asked which one did she want first, the small one or the big one.

“The small one,” said Gloria.

I handed her the Littmus Lozenge and she moved it around in her hands, feeling it.

“Candy?” she said.

“Yes ma’am,” I told her.

“It’s called a Littmus Lozenge.”

“Oh Lord, yes.

I remember these candies.

My daddy used to eat them.”

She unwrapped the Littmus Lozenge and put it in her mouth and nodded her head.

“Do you like it?” I asked her.

“Mmmm-hmmm.”

She nodded her head slowly.

“It taste sweet.

But it also taste like people leaving.”

“You mean sad?” I asked.

“Does it taste like sorrow to you?”

“That’s right,” she said.

“It taste sorrowful but sweet.

Now.

What’s surprise number two?”

“A book,” I said.

“A book?”

“Uh-huh,” I said.

“I’m going to read it out loud to you.

It’s called Gone with the Wind.

Miss Franny says it’s a great book.

It’s about the Civil War.

Do you know all about the Civil War?”

“I have heard it mentioned a time or two,” said Gloria, nodding her head and sucking on her Littmus Lozenge.

“It’s going to take us a long time to read this book,” I told her.

“There are one thousand and thirty-seven pages.”

“Whoooeee,” said Gloria.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her hands on her stomach.

“We best get started then.”

And so I read the first chapter of Gone with the Wind out loud to Gloria Dump.

I read it loud enough to keep her ghosts away.

And Gloria listened to it good.

And when I was done, she said it was the best surprise she had ever had and she couldn’t wait to hear chapter two.

That night, I gave the preacher his Littmus Lozenge right before he kissed me good night.

“What’s this?” he said.

“It’s some candy that Miss Franny’s great-grandfather invented.

It’s called a Littmus Lozenge.”

The preacher unwrapped it and put it in his mouth, and after a minute, he started rubbing his nose and nodding his head.

“Do you like it?” I asked him.

“It has a peculiar flavor . . .”

“Root beer?” I said.

“Something else.”

“Strawberry?”

“That, too.

But there’s still something else.

It’s odd.”

I could see the preacher getting further and further away.

He was hunching up his shoulders and lowering his chin and getting ready to pull his head inside his shell.

“It almost tastes a little melancholy,” he said.

“Melancholy?

What’s that?”

“Sad,” said the preacher.

He rubbed his nose some more.

“It makes me think of your mother.”

Winn-Dixie sniffed at the candy wrapper in the preacher’s hand.

“It tastes sad,” he said, and sighed.

“It must be a bad batch.”

“No,” I told him.

I sat up in bed.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to taste.

Littmus came back from the war and his whole family was dead.

His daddy died fighting.

And his mama and his sisters died from a disease and the Yankees burned his house down.

And Littmus was sad, very sad, and what he wanted more than anything in the whole world was something sweet.

So he built a candy factory and made Littmus Lozenges, and he put all the sad he was feeling into the candy.”

“My goodness,” said the preacher.

Winn-Dixie snuffed the candy wrapper out of the preacher’s hand and started chewing on it.

“Give me that,” I said to Winn-Dixie.

But he wouldn’t give it up.

I had to reach inside his mouth and pull it out.

“You can’t eat candy wrappers,” I told him.

The preacher cleared his throat.

I thought he was going to say something important, maybe tell me another thing that he remembered about my mama; but what he said was, “Opal, I had a talk with Mrs. Dewberry the other day.

She said that Stevie says that you called him a bald-headed baby.”

“It’s true,” I said.

“I did.

But he calls Gloria Dump a witch all the time, and he calls Otis retarded.

And once he even said that his mama said I shouldn’t spend all my time with old ladies.

That’s what he said.”

“I think you should apologize,” said the preacher.

“Me?” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“You.

You tell Stevie you’re sorry if you said anything that hurt his feelings.

I’m sure he just wants to be your friend.”

“I don’t think so,” I told him.

“I don’t think he wants to be my friend.”

“Some people have a strange way of going about making friends,” he said.

“You apologize.”

“Yes sir,” I said.

Then I remembered Carson.

“Daddy,” I said, “do you know anything about Amanda Wilkinson?”

“What kind of thing?”

“Do you know something about her and somebody named Carson?”

“Carson was her brother.

He drowned last year.”

“He’s dead?”

“Yes,” said the preacher.

“His family is still suffering a great deal.”

“How old was he?”

“Five,” said the preacher.

“He was only five years old.”

“Daddy,” I said, “how could you not tell me about something like that?”

“Other people’s tragedies should not be the subject of idle conversation.

There was no reason for me to tell you.”

“It’s just that I needed to know,” I said.

“Because it helps explain Amanda.

No wonder she’s so pinch-faced.”

“What’s that?” said the preacher.

“Nothing,” I said.

“Good night, India Opal,” the preacher said.

He leaned over and kissed me, and I smelled the root beer and the strawberry and the sadness all mixed together on his breath.

He patted Winn-Dixie on the head and got up and turned off the light and closed the door.

I didn’t go to sleep right away.

I lay there and thought how life was like a Littmus Lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together and how hard it was to separate them out.

It was confusing.

“Daddy!” I shouted.

After a minute, he opened the door and raised his eyebrows at me.

“What was that word you said?

The word that meant sad?”

“Melancholy,” he said.

“Melancholy,” I repeated.

I liked the way it sounded, like there was music hidden somewhere inside it.

“Good night now,” the preacher said.

“Good night,” I told him back.

I got up out of bed and unwrapped a Littmus Lozenge and sucked on it hard and thought about my mama leaving me.

That was a melancholy feeling.

And then I thought about Amanda and Carson.

And that made me feel melancholy, too.

Poor Amanda.

And poor Carson.

He was the same age as Sweetie Pie.

But he would never get to have his sixth birthday party.

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CHAPTER XIX.

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In the morning, me and Winn-Dixie went down to sweep the pet store, and I took a Littmus Lozenge for Otis.

“Is it Halloween?” Otis asked when I handed him the candy.

“No,” I said.

“Why?”

“Well, you’re giving me candy.”

“It’s just a gift,” I told him.

“For today.”

“Oh,” said Otis.

He unwrapped the Littmus Lozenge and put it in his mouth.

And after a minute, tears started rolling down his face.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Do you like it?” I asked him.

He nodded his head.

“It tastes good, but it also tastes a little bit like being in jail.”

“Gertrude,” Gertrude squawked.

She picked up the Littmus Lozenge wrapper in her beak and then dropped it and looked around.

“Gertrude!” she screamed again.

“You can’t have any,” I told her.

“It’s not for birds.”

Then, real quick, before I lost my nerve, I said, “Otis, what were you in jail for?

Are you a murderer?”

“No ma’am,” he said.

“Are you a burglar?”

“No ma’am,” Otis said again.

He sucked on his candy and stared down at his pointy-toed boots.

“You don’t have to tell me,” I said.

“I was just wondering.”

“I ain’t a dangerous man,” Otis said, “if that’s what you’re thinking.

I’m lonely.

But I ain’t dangerous.”

“Okay,” I said.

And I went into the back room to get my broom.

When I came back out, Otis was standing where I left him, still staring down at his feet.

“It was on account of the music,” he said.

“What was?” I asked.

“Why I went to jail.

It was on account of the music.”

“What happened?”

“I wouldn’t stop playing my guitar.

Used to be I played it on the street and sometimes people would give me money.

I didn’t do it for the money.

I did it because the music is better if someone is listening to it.

Anyway, the police came.

And they told me to stop it.

They said how I was breaking the law, and the whole time they were talking to me, I went right on playing my music.

And that made them mad.

They tried to put handcuffs on me.”

He sighed.

“I didn’t like that.

I wouldn’t have been able to play my guitar with them things on.”

“And then what happened?” I asked him.

“I hit them,” he whispered.

“You hit the police?”

“Uh-huh.

One of them.

I knocked him out.

Then I went to jail.

And they locked me up and wouldn’t let me have my guitar.

And when they finally let me out, they made me promise I wouldn’t never play my guitar on the street again.”

He looked up at me real quick and then back down at his boots.

“And I don’t.

I only play it in here.

For the animals.

Gertrude, the human Gertrude, she owns this shop, and she gave me this job when she read about me in the paper and she said it’s all right for me to play music for the animals.”

“You play your music for me and Winn-Dixie and Sweetie Pie,” I said.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“But you ain’t on the street.”

“Thank you for telling me about it, Otis,” I said.

“It’s all right,” he said.

“I don’t mind.”

Sweetie Pie came in and I gave her a Littmus Lozenge, and she spit it right out; she said that it tasted bad.

She said that it tasted like not having a dog.

I swept the floor real slow that day.

I wanted to keep Otis company.

I didn’t want him to be lonely.

Sometimes, it seemed like everybody in the world was lonely.

I thought about my mama.

Thinking about her was the same as the hole you keep on feeling with your tongue after you lose a tooth.

Time after time, my mind kept going to that empty spot, the spot where I felt like she should be.

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CHAPTER XX.

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When I told Gloria Dump about Otis and how he got arrested, she laughed so hard she had to grab hold of her false teeth so they wouldn’t fall out of her mouth.

“Whoooeee,” she said when she was finally done laughing.

“That sure is some dangerous criminal.”

“He’s a lonely man,” I told her.

“He just wants to play his music for somebody.”

Gloria wiped her eyes with the hem of her dress.

“I know it, sugar,” she said.

“But sometimes things are so sad they get to be funny.”

“You know what else?” I said, still thinking about sad things.

“That girl I told you about, the pinch-faced one?

Amanda?

Well, her brother drowned last year.

He was only five years old, the same age as Sweetie Pie Thomas.”

Gloria stopped smiling.

She nodded her head.

“I remember hearing about that,” she said.

“I remember hearing about a little drowned boy.”

“That’s why Amanda is so pinch-faced,” I said.

“She misses her brother.”

“Most likely,” Gloria agreed.

“Do you think everybody misses somebody?

Like I miss my mama?”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” said Gloria.

She closed her eyes.

“I believe, sometimes, that the whole world has an aching heart.”

I couldn’t stand to think about sad things that couldn’t be helped anymore, so I said, “Do you want to hear some more Gone with the Wind?”

“Yes indeed,” Gloria said.

“I been looking forward to it all day.

Let’s see what Miss Scarlett is up to now.”

I opened up Gone with the Wind and started to read, but the whole time, I was thinking about Otis, worrying about him not being allowed to play his guitar for people.

In the book, Scarlett was looking forward to going to a big barbecue where there was going to be music and food.

That’s how I got the idea.

“That’s what we need to do,” I said.

I slammed the book shut.

Winn-Dixie’s head shot up from underneath Gloria’s chair.

He looked around all nervouslike.

“Huh?” said Gloria Dump.

“Have a party,” I told her.

“We need to have a party and invite Miss Franny Block and the preacher and Otis, and Otis can play his guitar for everybody.

Sweetie Pie can come, too.

She listens to his music good.”

“‘We’ who?” Gloria asked.

“‘We’ me and you.

We can make some food and have the party right here in your yard.”

“Hmmmm,” said Gloria Dump.

“We could make peanut-butter sandwiches and cut them up in triangles to make them look fancy.”

“Lord,” said Gloria Dump, “I don’t know if the whole world likes peanut butter as much as you and me and this dog.”

“Okay then,” I said, “we could make egg-salad sandwiches.

Adults like those.”

“You know how to make egg salad?”

“No ma’am,” I said.

“I don’t have a mama around to teach me things like that.

But I bet you know.

I bet you could teach me.

Please.”

“Maybe,” said Gloria Dump.

She put her hand on Winn-Dixie’s head.

She smiled at me.

I knew she was telling me yes.

“Thank you,” I said.

I went over and hugged her.

I squeezed her hard.

Winn-Dixie wagged his tail and tried to get in between the two of us.

He couldn’t stand being left out of anything.

“It’s going to be the best party ever,” I told Gloria.

“You got to make me one promise though,” Gloria said.

“All right,” I told her.

“You got to invite them Dewberry boys.”

“Dunlap and Stevie?”

“Hmmmm-mmm, ain’t gonna be no party unless you invite them.”

“I have to?”

“Yes,” said Gloria Dump.

“You promise me.”

“I promise,” I said.

I didn’t like the idea.

But I promised.

I started inviting people right away.

I asked the preacher first.

“Daddy,” I said.

“Opal?” the preacher said back.

“Daddy, me and Winn-Dixie and Gloria Dump are having a party.”

“Well,” said the preacher, “that’s nice.

You have a good time.”

“Daddy,” I said, “I’m telling you because you’re invited.”

“Oh,” said the preacher.

He rubbed his nose.

“I see.”

“Can you come?” I asked him.

He sighed.

“I don’t see why not,” he said.

Miss Franny Block took to the idea right away.

“A party!” she said, and clapped her hands together.

“Yes ma’am,” I told her.

“It will be kind of like the barbecue at Twelve Oaks in Gone with the Wind.

Only it’s not going to be as many people, and we’re going to serve egg-salad sandwiches instead of barbecue.”

“That sounds lovely,” Miss Franny said.

And then she pointed at the back of the library and whispered, “Maybe you should ask Amanda, too.”

“She probably won’t want to come,” I said.

“She doesn’t like me very much.”

“Ask her and see what she says,” Miss Franny whispered.

So I walked to the back of the library and I asked Amanda Wilkinson in my best-manners voice to please come to my party.

She looked around all nervous and stuff.

“A party?” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“I sure would like it if you could come.”

She stared at me with her mouth open.

“Okay,” she said after a minute.

“I mean, yes.

Thank you.

I would love to.”

And just like I promised Gloria, I asked the Dewberry boys.

“I ain’t going to no party at a witch’s house,” Stevie said.

Dunlap knocked Stevie with his elbow.

“We’ll come,” he said.

“We will not,” said Stevie.

“That witch might cook us up in her big old witch’s pot.”

“I don’t care if you come or not,” I told them.

“I’m just asking because I promised I would.”

“We’ll be there,” said Dunlap.

And he nodded at me and smiled.

Sweetie Pie was very excited when I invited her.

“What’s the theme?” she asked.

“Well, there isn’t one,” I said.

“You got to think of a theme,” she told me.

She stuck her knuckle in her mouth and then pulled it back out.

“It ain’t a party without a theme.

Is this dog coming?” she asked.

She wrapped her arms around Winn-Dixie and squeezed him so hard that his eyes almost popped out of his head.

“Yes,” I told her.

“Good,” she said.

“You could make that the theme.

It could be a dog party.”

“I’ll think about it,” I told her.

The last person I asked was Otis.

I told him all about the party and that he was invited and he said, “No, thank you.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“I don’t like parties,” said Otis.

“Please,” I begged.

“It won’t be a party unless you come.

I’ll give you a whole free week of sweeping and arranging and dusting.

If you come to the party, that’s what I’ll do.”

“A whole week for free?” Otis said, looking up at me.

“Yes sir,” I told him.

“But I don’t have to talk to people, right?”

“No sir,” I said.

“You don’t.

But bring your guitar.

Maybe you could play us some music.”

“Maybe,” said Otis.

He looked down at his boots again real quick, trying to hide his smile.

“Thank you,” I told him.

“Thank you for deciding to come.”

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CHAPTER XXI.

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After I got Otis convinced to come, the rest of getting ready for the party was easy and fun.

Me and Gloria decided to have the party at night, when it would be cooler.

And the afternoon before, we worked in Gloria’s kitchen and made egg-salad sandwiches.

We cut them up in triangles and cut off the crusts and put little toothpicks with frilly tops in them.

Winn-Dixie sat in the kitchen and looked at us the whole time.

He kept on wagging his tail.

“That dog thinks we making these sandwiches for him,” said Gloria Dump.

Winn-Dixie showed Gloria all his teeth.

“These ain’t for you,” she told him.

But when she thought I wasn’t looking, she gave Winn-Dixie an egg-salad sandwich, without the toothpick.

We also made punch.

We mixed together orange juice and grapefruit juice and soda in a big bowl.

Gloria called it Dump Punch.

She said she was world famous for it.

But I had never heard of it before.

The last thing we did was decorate the yard all up.

I strung pink and orange and yellow crepe paper in the trees to make it look fancy.

We also filled up paper bags with sand and put candles in them, and right before it was time for the party to start, I went around and lit all the candles.

It turned Gloria Dump’s yard into a fairyland.

“Mmmmm-hmmm,” said Gloria Dump, looking around.

“Even somebody with bad eyes can tell it looks good.”

It did look pretty.

It looked so pretty that it made my heart feel funny, all swollen and full, and I wished desperately that I knew where my mama was so she could come to the party, too.

Miss Franny Block was the first person to arrive.

She was wearing a pretty green dress that was all shiny and shimmery.

And she had on high-heeled shoes that made her wobble back and forth when she walked.

Even when she was standing still, she still kind of swayed, like she was standing on a boat.

She was carrying a big glass bowl full of Littmus Lozenges.

“I brought a little after-dinner treat,” she said, handing the bowl to me.

“Thank you,” I said.

I put the bowl on the table next to the egg-salad sandwiches and the punch.

Then I introduced Miss Franny to Gloria, and they shook hands and said polite things to each other.

And then Sweetie Pie’s mother came by with Sweetie Pie.

Sweetie Pie had a whole handful of pictures of dogs that she had cut out of magazines.

“It’s to help you with your theme,” she said.

“You can use them to decorate.

I brung tape, too.”

And she started going around taping the pictures of the dogs to the trees and the chairs and the table.

“She ain’t talked about nothing but this party all day long,” said her mother.

“Can you walk her home when it’s over?”

I promised that I would, and then I introduced Sweetie Pie to Miss Franny and to Gloria, and right after that, the preacher showed up.

He was wearing a coat and tie and looked real serious.

He shook Gloria Dump’s hand and Miss Franny Block’s hand and said how pleased he was to meet them both and how he had heard nothing but good things about both of them.

He patted Sweetie Pie on the head and said it was good to see her outside of church.

And the whole time, Winn-Dixie was standing right in the middle of everybody, wagging his tail so hard that I thought for sure he would knock Miss Franny right off her high heels.

Amanda Wilkinson came and she had her blond hair all curled up and she looked shy and not as mean as usual, and I stood real close to her and introduced her to Gloria Dump.

I was surprised at how glad I was to see Amanda.

And I wanted to tell her I knew about Carson.

I wanted to tell her I understood about losing people, but I didn’t say anything.

I was just extra nice.

We were all standing around smiling at one another and acting kind of nervous, when a real screechy voice said, “Gertrude is a pretty bird.”

Winn-Dixie’s ears went straight up on his head, and he barked once and looked around.

I looked, too, but I didn’t see Gertrude.

Or Otis.

“I’ll be right back,” I said to everybody.

Me and Winn-Dixie went running around to the front of the house.

And sure enough, standing there on the sidewalk was Otis.

He had his guitar on his back and Gertrude on his shoulder, and in his hands, he was holding the biggest jar of pickles I had ever seen in my life.

“Otis,” I said to him, “come on around back, that’s where the party is.”

“Oh,” he said.

But he didn’t move.

He just stood there, holding on to his jar of pickles.

“Dog,” screeched Gertrude.

She flew off of Otis’s shoulder and landed on Winn-Dixie’s head.

“It’s all right, Otis,” I told him.

“It’s just a few people, hardly any people at all.”

“Oh,” said Otis again.

He looked around like he was lost.

Then he held up the jar of pickles.

“I brought pickles,” he said.

“I saw them,” I said.

“It’s just exactly what we needed.

They will go perfect with the egg-salad sandwiches.”

I talked to him real soft and gentle and low, like he was a wild animal that I was trying to get to take food out of my hand.

He took one tiny step forward.

“Come on,” I whispered.

I started walking and Winn-Dixie followed me.

And when I turned around, I saw Otis was following me, too.

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CHAPTER XXII.

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Otis followed me all the way into the backyard, where the party was.

Before he could run away, I introduced him to the preacher.

“Daddy,” I said, “this is Otis.

He’s the one who runs Gertrude’s Pets.

He’s the one who plays the guitar so good.”

“How do you do?” said the preacher.

He stuck his hand out to Otis.

And Otis stood there and shuffled his big jar of pickles back and forth, trying to free up a hand to offer back to the preacher.

Finally, he ended up bending over and setting the jar down on the ground.

But when he did that, his guitar slid forward and hit him in the head with a little boing sound; Sweetie Pie laughed and pointed at him like he was doing the whole thing on purpose just to amuse her.

“Ouch,” said Otis.

He stood back up and took the guitar off his shoulder and put it down on the ground next to the jar of pickles, and then he wiped his hand on his pants and stuck it out to the preacher, who took it and said, “It sure is a pleasure to shake your hand.”

“Thank you,” said Otis.

“I brought pickles.”

“I noticed,” said the preacher.

After the preacher and Otis were done shaking hands, I introduced Otis to Miss Franny Block and to Amanda.

And then I introduced him to Gloria Dump.

Gloria took his hand and smiled at him.

And Otis looked right in her eyes and smiled back.

He smiled big.

“I brought pickles for your party,” Otis told her.

“And I am so glad,” she said.

“It just ain’t a party without pickles.”

Otis looked down at his big jar of pickles.

His face was all red.

“Opal,” said Gloria, “when are them boys getting here?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

I shrugged.

“I told them what time we were starting.”

What I didn’t tell her was that they probably weren’t coming, because they were afraid to go to a party at a witch’s house.

“Well,” said Gloria.

“We got egg-salad sandwiches.

We got Dump Punch.

We got pickles.

We got dog pictures.

We got Littmus Lozenges.

And we got a preacher, who can bless this party for us.”

Gloria Dump looked over at the preacher.

He nodded his head at Gloria and cleared his throat and said, “Dear God, thank you for warm summer nights and candlelight and good food.

But thank you most of all for friends.

We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other.

And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us.

We pray in Christ’s name.

Amen.”

“Amen,” said Gloria Dump.

“Amen,” I whispered.

“Gertrude,” croaked Gertrude.

“Are we fixing to eat now?” Sweetie Pie asked.

“Shhhh,” said Amanda.

Winn-Dixie sneezed.

There was a far-off rumble of thunder.

I thought at first that it was Winn-Dixie’s stomach growling.

“It ain’t supposed to rain,” said Gloria Dump.

“They didn’t predict no rain.”

“This dress is silk,” said Miss Franny Block.

“I cannot get it wet.”

“Maybe we should go inside,” said Amanda.

The preacher looked up at the sky.

And just then, the rain came pouring down.

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CHAPTER XXIII.

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“Save the sandwiches,” Gloria Dump yelled to me.

“Save the punch.”

“I got my dog pictures,” screamed Sweetie Pie.

She went running around, tearing them off the trees and the chairs.

“Don’t worry,” she kept shouting.

“I got ’em.”

I grabbed the platter of egg-salad sandwiches and the preacher grabbed the punch, and we ran into the kitchen with them; and when I ran back outside, I saw that Amanda had hold of Miss Franny Block and was helping her into the house.

Miss Franny was so teetery in her high heels that the rain would have knocked her right over if Amanda hadn’t held on to her.

I grabbed Gloria Dump’s arm.

“I’m all right,” she said.

But she put her hand on my arm and held on to me tight.

I looked around the garden before we left.

All the crepe paper was melted and the candles were out, and then I saw Otis.

He was standing there by his jar of pickles, looking down at his feet.

“Otis,” I hollered at him over the rain, “come on, we’re going inside.”

When we got in the kitchen, Amanda and Miss Franny were laughing and shaking themselves like dogs.

“What a downpour,” said Miss Franny.

“Wasn’t that something?”

“That came right out of nowhere,” said the preacher.

“Whooooeee,” said Gloria.

“Dog,” squawked Gertrude.

I looked at her.

She was sitting on the kitchen table.

The thunder was really booming and cracking.

“Oh no,” I said.

I looked around the kitchen.

“Don’t worry,” said Sweetie Pie.

“I saved them dog pictures.

I got ’em right here.”

She waved around her wad of magazine pages.

“Where’s Winn-Dixie?” I shouted.

“I forgot about him.

I was just thinking about the party and I forgot about Winn-Dixie.

I forgot about protecting him from the thunder.”

“Now, Opal,” the preacher said, “he’s probably right out in the yard, hiding underneath a chair.

Come on, you and I will go look.”

“Hold on,” said Gloria Dump, “let me get you a flashlight and some umbrellas.”

But I didn’t want to wait.

I went running out into the yard.

I looked under all the chairs and around all the bushes and trees.

I called his name real loud.

I felt like crying.

It was my fault.

I was supposed to hold on to him.

And I forgot.

“Opal,” I heard the preacher call.

I looked up.

He was standing on the porch with Gloria.

And Dunlap and Stevie Dewberry were standing there, too.

“Your guests are here,” the preacher said.

“I don’t care,” I hollered.

“Come on up here,” Gloria Dump said, her voice all hard and serious.

She shone her flashlight out at me.

I walked up onto the porch and she handed me the flashlight.

“Tell these boys, ‘hey,’” she said.

“Tell them you are glad they came and that you will be right back just as soon as you find your dog.”

“Hey,” I said.

“Thank you for coming.

I just got to find Winn-Dixie and then I’ll be right back.”

Stevie stared at me with his mouth wide open.

“You want me to help?” Dunlap asked.

I shook my head.

I tried not to cry.

“Come here, child,” Gloria Dump said.

She reached for me and pulled me close to her and whispered in my ear, “There ain’t no way you can hold on to something that wants to go, you understand?

You can only love what you got while you got it.”

She squeezed me hard.

“Good luck now,” she called, as me and the preacher stepped off the porch and out into the rain.

“Good luck,” Miss Franny called from the kitchen.

“That dog ain’t lost,” I heard Sweetie Pie holler to somebody inside.

“That dog’s too smart to get lost.”

I turned around and looked back, and the last thing I saw was the porch light shining on Dunlap Dewberry’s bald head.

It made me sad, him standing on Gloria’s porch, his bald head glowing.

Dunlap saw me looking, and he raised up his hand and waved to me.

I didn’t wave back.

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CHAPTER XIV.

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Me and the preacher started walking and calling Winn-Dixie’s name.

I was glad it was raining so hard, because it made it easy to cry.

I cried and cried and cried, and the whole time I was calling for Winn-Dixie.

“Winn-Dixie,” I screamed.

“Winn-Dixie,” the preacher shouted.

And then he whistled loud and long.

But Winn-Dixie didn’t show up.

We walked all through downtown.

We walked past the Dewberrys’ house and the Herman W. Block Memorial Library and Sweetie Pie’s yellow house and Gertrude’s Pets.

We walked out to the Friendly Corners Trailer Park and looked underneath our trailer.

We walked all the way out to the Open Arms Baptist Church of Naomi.

We walked past the railroad tracks and right on down Highway 50.

Cars were rushing past us and their taillights glowed red, like mean eyes staring at us.

“Daddy,” I said.

“Daddy, what if he got run over?”

“Opal,” the preacher said.

“We can’t worry about what might have happened.

All we can do is keep looking.”

We walked and walked.

And in my head, I started on a list of ten things that I knew about Winn-Dixie, things I could write on big old posters and put up around the neighborhood, things that would help people look for him.

Number one was that he had a pathological fear of thunderstorms.

Number two was he liked to smile, using all his teeth.

Number three was he could run fast.

Number four was that he snored.

Number five was that he could catch mice without squishing them to death.

Number six was he liked to meet people.

Number seven was he liked to eat peanut butter.

Number eight was he couldn’t stand to be left alone.

Number nine was he liked to sit on couches and sleep in beds.

Number ten was he didn’t mind going to church.

I kept on going over and over the list in my head.

I memorized it the same way I had memorized the list of ten things about my mama.

I memorized it so if I didn’t find him, I would have some part of him to hold on to.

But at the same time, I thought of something I had never thought of before; and that was that a list of things couldn’t even begin to show somebody the real Winn-Dixie, just like a list of ten things couldn’t ever get me to know my mama.

And thinking about that made me cry even more.

Me and the preacher looked for a long time; and finally, he said we had to quit.

“But Daddy,” I said, “Winn-Dixie’s out there somewhere.

We can’t leave him.”

“Opal,” the preacher said, “we have looked and looked, and there’s only so much looking we can do.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to give up,” I told him.

“India Opal,” the preacher said, rubbing his nose, “don’t argue with me.”

I stood and stared at him.

The rain had let up some.

It was mostly a drizzle now.

“It’s time to head back,” the preacher said.

“No,” I told him.

“You go ahead and go, but I’m going to keep on looking.”

“Opal,” the preacher said in a real soft voice, “it’s time to give up.”

“You always give up!” I shouted.

“You’re always pulling your head inside your stupid old turtle shell.

I bet you didn’t even go out looking for my mama when she left.

I bet you just let her run off, too.”

“Baby,” the preacher said.

“I couldn’t stop her.

I tried.

Don’t you think I wanted her to stay, too?

Don’t you think I miss her every day?”

He spread his arms out wide and then dropped them to his sides.

“I tried,” he said.

“I tried.”

Then he did something I couldn’t believe.

He started to cry.

The preacher was crying.

His shoulders were moving up and down.

And he was making snuffly noises.

“And don’t believe that losing Winn-Dixie doesn’t upset me as much as it does you,” he said.

“I love that dog.

I love him, too.”

“Daddy,” I said.

I went and wrapped my arms around his waist.

He was crying so hard he was shaking.

“It’s all right,” I told him.

“It’s okay.

Shhhhh,” I said to him like he was a scared little kid.

“Everything will be okay.”

We stood there hugging and rocking back and forth, and after a while the preacher stopped shaking and I still held on to him; and I finally got the nerve to ask the question I wanted to ask.

“Do you think she’s ever going to come back?” I whispered.

“No,” the preacher said.

“No, I do not.

I’ve hoped and prayed and dreamed about it for years.

But I don’t think she’ll ever come back.”

“Gloria says that you can’t hold on to anything.

That you can only love what you’ve got while you’ve got it.”

“She’s right,” the preacher said.

“Gloria Dump is right.”

“I’m not ready to let Winn-Dixie go,” I said.

I had forgotten about him for a minute, what with thinking about my mama.

“We’ll keep looking,” said the preacher.

“The two of us will keep looking for him.

But do you know what?

I just realized something, India Opal.

When I told you your mama took everything with her, I forgot one thing, one very important thing that she left behind.”

“What?” I asked.

“You,” he said.

“Thank God your mama left me you.”

And he hugged me tighter.

“I’m glad I’ve got you, too,” I told him.

And I meant it.

I took hold of his hand, and we started walking back into town, calling and whistling for Winn-Dixie the whole way.

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CHAPTER XV.

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We heard the music before we even got to Gloria Dump’s house.

We heard it almost a block away.

It was guitar-playing and singing and clapping.

“I wonder what’s going on?” my father said.

We walked up Gloria’s sidewalk and around back, through her yard and into her kitchen.

What we saw was Otis playing his guitar, and Miss Franny and Gloria sitting there smiling and singing, and Gloria holding Sweetie Pie in her lap.

Amanda and Dunlap and Stevie were sitting on the kitchen floor, clapping along and having the best possible time.

Even Amanda was smiling.

I couldn’t believe they were so happy when Winn-Dixie was missing.

“We didn’t find him,” I shouted at them.

The music stopped and Gloria Dump looked at me and said, “Child, we know you didn’t find him.

You didn’t find him because he was right here all along.”

She took her cane and poked at something under her chair.

“Come on out of there,” she said.

There was a snuffle and a sigh.

“He’s asleep,” she said.

“He’s plumb wore out.”

She poked around with her cane again.

And Winn-Dixie stood up from underneath her chair and yawned.

“Winn-Dixie!” I hollered.

“Dog,” Gertrude squawked.

Winn-Dixie wagged his tail and showed me all his teeth and sneezed.

I went pushing past everybody.

I dropped to the floor and wrapped my arms around him.

“Where have you been?” I asked him.

He yawned again.

“How did you find him?” I asked.

“Now there’s a story,” said Miss Franny.

“Gloria, why don’t you tell it?”

“Well,” said Gloria Dump, “we was all just sitting around waiting on you two.

And after I convinced these Dewberry boys that I ain’t no scary witch all full of spells and potions —”

“She ain’t no witch,” Stevie said.

He shook his bald head.

He looked kind of disappointed.

“Naw,” said Dunlap.

“She ain’t.

If she was, she would’ve turned us into toads by now.”

He grinned.

“I could have told you that she wasn’t a witch.

Witches don’t exist,” said Amanda.

“They are just myths.”

“All right now,” said Gloria.

“What happened was we got through all them witchy things and then Franny said, why don’t we have a little music while we wait for you two to get back.

And so Otis played his guitar.

And whooooeee, there ain’t a song he don’t know.

And if he don’t know it, he can pick it up right quick if you hum it to him.

He has a gift.”

Gloria stopped and smiled over at Otis, and he smiled back.

He looked all lit up from the inside.

“Tell what happened,” Sweetie Pie said.

“Tell about that dog.”

“So,” said Gloria.

“Franny and me, we started thinking about all these songs we knew from when we was girls.

We got Otis to play them and we started singing them, teaching the words to these children.”

“And then somebody sneezed,” Sweetie Pie shouted.

“That’s right,” said Gloria.

“Somebody sneezed and it wasn’t none of us.

So we looked around, wondering who did, thinking that maybe we got us a burglar in the house.

We looked around and we didn’t see nothing, so we started into singing again.

And sure enough, there was another big achoo.

Sounded like it was coming from my bedroom.

So I sent Otis in there.

I said, ‘Otis, go on in there and see who is sneezing.’

So Otis went.

And do you know what he found?”

I shook my head.

“Winn-Dixie!” shouted Sweetie Pie.

“That dog of yours was all hid underneath my bed, squeezed under there like the world was about to end.

But he was smiling like a fool every time he heard Otis play the guitar, smiling so hard he sneezed.”

My daddy laughed.

“It is true,” Miss Franny said.

“It’s the truth,” said Stevie.

Dunlap nodded and smiled right at me.

“So,” Gloria Dump said, “Otis played his guitar right to that dog, and a little bit at a time, Winn-Dixie came creeping out from underneath the bed.”

“He was covered in dust,” said Amanda.

“He looked like a ghost,” said Dunlap.

“Yeah,” said Sweetie Pie, “just like a ghost.”

“Mmmmm-hmm,” said Gloria.

“Looked just like a ghost.

Anyway, the storm stopped after a while.

And your dog settled in under my chair.

And fell asleep.

And that’s where he’s been ever since, just waiting on you to come back and find him.”

“Winn-Dixie,” I said.

I hugged him so tight he wheezed.

“We were out there whistling and calling for you and you were right here all along.

Thank you,” I said to everybody.

“Well,” said Gloria Dump.

“We didn’t do nothin’.

We just sat here and waited and sang some songs.

We all got to be good friends.

Now.

The punch ain’t nothin’ but water and the egg-salad sandwiches got tore up by the rain.

You got to eat them with a spoon if you want egg salad.

But we got pickles to eat.

And Littmus Lozenges.

And we still got a party going on.”

My daddy pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down.

“Otis,” he said, “do you know any hymns?”

“I know some,” said Otis.

“You hum it,” said Miss Franny, nodding her head, “and he can play it.”

So my daddy started humming something and Otis started picking it out on his guitar, and Winn-Dixie wagged his tail and lay back down underneath Gloria’s chair.

I looked around the room at all the different faces, and I felt my heart swell up inside me with pure happiness.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said.

But they were all singing now and laughing, and Winn-Dixie was snoring, so no one heard me.

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CHAPTER XVI.

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Outside, the rain had stopped and the clouds had gone away and the sky was so clear it seemed like I could see every star ever made.

I walked all the way to the back of Gloria Dump’s yard.

I walked back there and looked at her mistake tree.

The bottles were quiet; there wasn’t a breeze, so they were just hanging there.

I looked at the tree and then I looked up at the sky.

“Mama,” I said, just like she was standing right beside me, “I know ten things about you, and that’s not enough, that’s not near enough.

But Daddy is going to tell me more; I know he will, now that he knows you’re not coming back.

He misses you and I miss you, but my heart doesn’t feel empty anymore.

It’s full all the way up.

I’ll still think about you, I promise.

But probably not as much as I did this summer.”

That’s what I said that night underneath Gloria Dump’s mistake tree.

And after I was done saying it, I stood just staring up at the sky, looking at the constellations and planets.

And then I remembered my own tree, the one Gloria had helped me plant.

I hadn’t looked at it for a long time.

I went crawling around on my hands and knees, searching for it.

And when I found it, I was surprised at how much it had grown.

It was still small.

It still looked more like a plant than a tree.

But the leaves and the branches felt real strong and good and right.

And I was down there on my knees when I heard a voice say, “Are you praying?”

I looked up.

It was Dunlap.

“No,” I said.

“I’m not praying.

I’m thinking.”

He crossed his arms and looked down at me.

“What about?” he asked.

“All kinds of different things,” I said.

“I’m sorry that I called you and Stevie bald-headed babies.”

“That’s all right,” he said.

“Gloria told me to come out here and get you.”

“I told you she wasn’t a witch.”

“I know it,” he said.

“I knew it all along.

I was just teasing you.”

“Oh,” I said.

I looked at him close.

It was hard to see him good in the dark yard.

“Ain’t you ever gonna stand up?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

And then he surprised me.

He did something I never in a million years thought a Dewberry boy would do.

He held out his hand to help me up.

And I took it.

I let him pull me to my feet.

“I’ll race you back to the house,” Dunlap said.

And he started to run.

“Okay,” I shouted.

“But I’m warning you, I’m fast.”

We ran, and I beat him.

I touched the corner of Gloria Dump’s house right before he did.

“You shouldn’t be running around in the dark,” said Amanda.

She was standing on the porch, looking at us.

“You could trip over something.”

“Aw, Amanda,” said Dunlap, and he shook his head.

“Aw, Amanda,” I said, too.

And then I remembered Carson and I felt bad for her.

I went up on the porch and took hold of her hand and pulled on her.

“Come on,” I said, “let’s go inside.”

“India Opal,” Daddy said when me and Amanda and Dunlap walked in.

“Are you here to sing some songs with us?”

“Yes sir,” I said.

“Only I don’t know that many songs.”

“We’ll teach you,” he said.

He smiled at me real big.

It was a good thing to see.

“That’s right,” said Gloria Dump.

“We will.”

Sweetie Pie was still sitting in her lap, but her eyes were closed.

“Care for a Littmus Lozenge?” Miss Franny asked, passing me the bowl.

“Thank you,” I told her.

I took a Littmus Lozenge and unwrapped it and put it in my mouth.

“Do you want a pickle?” Otis asked, holding up his big jar of pickles.

“No, thank you,” I said.

“Not right now.”

Winn-Dixie came out from underneath Gloria Dump’s chair.

He sat down next to me and leaned into me the same as I was leaning into my daddy.

And Amanda stood right there beside me, and when I looked over at her, she didn’t look pinch-faced at all to me.

Dunlap cracked his knuckles and said, “Well, are we gonna sing or what?”

“Yeah,” Stevie echoed, “are we gonna sing or what?”

“Let’s sing,” said Sweetie Pie, opening her eyes and sitting up straight.

“Let’s sing for the dog.”

Otis laughed and strummed his guitar, and the flavor of the Littmus Lozenge opened in my mouth like a flower blooming, all sweet and sad.

And then Otis and Gloria and Stevie and Miss Franny and Dunlap and Amanda and Sweetie Pie and my daddy all started to sing a song.

And I listened careful, so I could learn it right.

THE END.