Summary

“A One Woman Crime Wave – 1931”

By the time Joey and Mary Alice take their third trip, the country has plunged deep into the Great Depression. They can see signs of it all along their trip, from the men riding the freight trains and others walking along the roads looking for work. A new sign greets them when they arrive at Grandma’s station: “Drifters keep moving, this means you. (Signed) O.B. Dickerson, Sheriff.”

Despite all the changes around them, once they get to Grandma Dowdel’s everything seems the same. Grandma is the same as she always was. The only difference is the stench of very stinky cheese coming from the cob house.

The first morning, Grandma wakes the kids at five a.m. by banging a spoon against a pan. “We’re going fishing,” she explains. There were no poles or bait around, but...