Act 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Palmyra (Pam), Mom's best friend, arrives and, against Vernon's better judgment, whisks him off to Bar-B-Chew Barn. Sitting in Pam's chicken smelling, fire ant-infested Mercury, Vernon wishing he could catch a bus out of the "tight-assed" town marked by pumpjacks, jackrabbits, and Guries. Pam sings along to "Galveston" as they drive by the school, where girls and mothers weep amidst flower offerings and tiny crosses. Vernon recalls Jesus' picture taken at the crime scene, so different from how he remembers him and isolated from the other corpses. To him, Jesus is not six-fingered or dead in girls' underwear, but speeding on his bike. Jesus has always been clumsy but not angry, self-doubting, secretive, and weird as of late. He needed a better role model than the father who lets him use his rifle or the "powder-puff" Nuckles, who only makes him...