Chapter 9THE GARDEN HOE
Iowa summers were hot and humid. Everything slowed down and eased into a gentle lull. The air was thick like cotton candy, choking everyone’s lungs with each smothering breath. The waves of heat shimmered in ghostly patterns on the sidewalks. Even the dogs lay in the shade with their tongues hanging out, waiting for the heat to pass.
The kids spent a lot of the summer at Hawks Bluff Park. They swam in the muddy lake or played baseball. Everybody watched the games from the rickety gray-metal bleachers lined up behind the broken chain-link fence.
That muggy summer afternoon, the muddy lake was crowded with swimmers, and the baseball bleachers filled with spectators for Coffey’s championship game against the Stilton first place team, their rivals from a much bigger
