Chalktown –
Melinda Haynes
Reviewed by Donna G. Pierce
When this story opens, 16-year-old Hezekiah Sheehand is dodging his school’s truant officer. With his 5-year-old mentally disabled brother, Yellababy, strapped to his back, he heads to Chalktown, Miss., determined to discover the secrets that plague the small town. Hez leaves behind an abusive mother, Susan Blair, and a philandering father, Fairy, who lives in an old bus and slips off every day to meet his ex-wife.
In Melinda Haynes’ second novel, Chalktown, she weaves a Southern tale about people in rural Mississippi in the early 1960s.
The novel takes the listener back a few years to a summer day when a traveling preacher passed through Chalktown preaching a revival where some churchgoers are slain in the spirit and some speak in tongues. The preacher prophesizes that a lover will return to resident Annie, promising the young pregnant girl a happier life. But while Annie hopes for the best, others in Chalktown are doubtful.
After the preacher leaves, the residents stop speaking and begin communicating on chalkboards that hang on their front porches. Tragedy strikes the small village of loners and misfits and leaves them doubting each other.
When the story returns to Hez, he’s nearing Chalktown, unaware that while he’s been away, tragedy has struck home. His younger sister, Arena, who is involved with an older man, leaves home. Fairy sets out to find Arena and her lover, and their confrontation leads to the dramatic ending.
Hez and Yellababy begin a life together; and in prison, Fairy learns that life doesn’t always go as planned.
