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Moon Over Manifest Chapters 20-21 Summary

Chapter 20

Dead or Alive, June 17, 1936

  • Abilene's friends are out of town for a funeral, so she's got nothing better to do than hunt for plants and bugs for Miss Sadie.
  • She stops in to Hattie Mae's office to take a look at some more old newspapers, but ends up asking her why no one in Manifest seems to know very much about her daddy.
  • They talk about how much Abilene misses him, and then Billy shows up.
  • He tells her that Sister Redempta brought them over some ginger tea from Miss Sadie for the baby. So let us get this straight: the nun and the fortune-teller hang out?
  • Billy leaves to go deliver papers, and Abilene goes to the train tracks to find the flowers Miss Sadie needs.
  • As she walks on the tracks, she imagines a train coming, bringing her daddy to her.
  • She's sure got a vivid imagination. She can almost hear the train, feel the vibrations—and then she realizes there's a real train right behind her. Argh.
  • She jumps off the tracks just in time, and then watches the train pass, aching to jump on. It almost kills her, and she still wants a ride?
  • But then Shady's there with her.
  • Looks like he was out all night drinking, and Abilene almost tells him she has an old whiskey cork of his on her windowsill.
  • He asks if she'll be home for supper, but she's got more plants to find first. Back to work.

Chapter 21

Miss Sadie's Divining Parlor, June 17, 1936

  • When Abilene finally gets all the flowers on her list, she heads back to Miss Sadie's.
  • She doesn't see her anywhere, so she looks around for a pot or vase to put the flowers in until she gets back.
  • There's a shed in the back, so Abilene tries to peek through the window to see if there's a pot in there…
  • …when Miss Sadie suddenly appears and yells at her to get away. Oops.
  • She examines the flowers and then takes them apart, piece by piece.
  • She tells Abilene to get back to hoeing the garden (poor Abilene), but then starts telling more of the story.
  • The Widow Cane's death has opened up a weird new situation for the town.
  • She owned some property near the woods, and now Mr. Devlin wants to buy it—the geologists say there's ore underground.