Salvation, Mississippi

Parchman Farm Prison, 1992What if I told you I'm no criminal? It may look that way, me being locked up and all, but my crime was a necessary one. A much-needed payday for my sick and dying mama, and a reprieve from the Mississippi Delta's suffocating poverty. But I got caught, and the payday never came. Maybe that's why my notorious cellmate is preying on me like he is. It's the need he senses, a burden I'm wearing like a heavy coat I can't remove.His name is Earl Gates, but everyone calls him Pearly, a snake-oil salesman if there ever was one. And his idea is ludicrous - to steal twenty million from one of the new casinos coming to Tunica, my hometown. With my brains, backroads knowledge, and big river bloodline, he says I'll make a perfect accomplice. I don't know about that, but he's got me thinking. About risk. About reward.I could lose Layna, who waits for me, probably against her better judgment. Love can tip the scales of logic, I suppose. Then there's Sheriff Stilwell, whose testimony put me away, who still has me in his sights. And one more thing I keep hearing about - the mysterious Delta Syndicate and Pearly's possible connection to it. If I listened to my gut, I might avoid this scheme altogether.But it's the money, you see. Millions of reasons in life-altering cash. An escape from the fate I've been running from for as long as I can remember. A promise of salvation.And in a place like Mississippi, you're best to grab salvation wherever you can find it. Read more