c.l. bunnell

Gary Crowe, a special needs child, who is now an adult; was born and raised in a small farming community in northeast Indiana. A village that's managed to hold onto the best decade the United States has ever seen: the nineteen fifties. And since it's coming up on the end of summer, it's time for the annual cooking festival of which Gary has won three times in a row. He's going for fourth ... His secret? A black man named Leon Noone who knows how to cook southern style, soul food, something the all white, conservative towns’ people are unaccustomed too, and not certain they approve of. I mean—the reigning champ is not only a mentally challenged chef, but he’s schooled by a black drifter, who not long ago jumped off the West bound, Fifty-three train, coming from South Fork, Nevada.
Gary’s mother, a beautiful woman who was forced to use her looks to make a living for her and Gary; is also shunned by the community. At least the female side. But there are plenty of lonely men around Lincoln. The married men pay to use her, while the single men pay for her company. And although this is kept discrete, it’s hardly a secret, creating a divide between those who want her to stay, and those who want her ran out of town.
There is the Reverend James P. Townsend who is also the mortician. A man, who prepares the dead down in the Church’s basement, in between Church services. Townsend is a greedy man who believes the weak are just that. Weak. And he’s pretty sure they won’t inherit the Earth while he’s still alive.
There’s Glenda Gant, a sexy, half black woman who runs the old folks home. Glenda can’t pay the bills because the families won’t pay the home. So it looks like she’s going to have to close. This means all the residents will have to live with their families who receive and keep their social security and pension checks.
Then there’s the Sheriff who spends most of his time in bed with Gary’s mom. An easy going fella who is fair, and one of few with common sense. But that doesn’t play well in a town that lacks such things.
The Deputy, a Priest want-to-be, who later learned he was better suited for the Arian nation. Spends his time doing whatever he can to make his enemies miserable. An attempt to cleanse the area and bring the Local white people closer to God. All the while the manager at the local market keeps hiring black people because they will work.
In the end, the town becomes a melting pot, that is comical, and unfortunately, somewhat believable.