A Land More Kind than Home

Clem Barefield, the county sheriff, narrates this chapter. He receives a call from his deputy, who explains that Ben Hall called 911 saying that his son (Stump) had died. The deputy explains that Stump has been taken to Adelaide Lyle’s home but that the boy died in the church. The deputy adds that Ben’s father has returned to town and that the two plan to meet Sheriff Barefield at Adelaide’s home.

As he drives, the sheriff recalls that Ben was once friends with Barefield’s late son, Jeff. He recalls an incident when the two boys, along with another boy they called “Spaceman,” got drunk and then shot out several streetlights with a shotgun. Rather than sending Ben home to his father, who would certainly beat Ben, Barefield agreed to allow Ben to stay with his family for the night. He recalls, too, when Pastor Chambliss first came to town, including an incident when he supposedly exorcised the devil from a local girl whom he deemed possessed. A neighbor of the family, Gillum, then set fire to his own barn after his daughter insisted that she saw the devil run into the barn after leaving the young girl’s body.