Moon Over Manifest

“Take it easy there, Jinx. No sense getting the jitters now, we’re almost done.” He set the jug upright. “There now. Still plenty left. Besides, it’s not like this stuff’s going to save lives or anything.” Shady filled up the jug and replaced the cork.

Even after Shady’s comment about Sheriff Dean and his sheriff brother-in-law in Joplin, Jinx felt strangely at ease and comforted as they made their way back to Shady’s place. Never before had Jinx felt this safe. Manifest had been a refuge for him and he’d allowed himself to be lulled into thinking that bad things didn’t happen there. Not in Manifest.

But as they neared the German Fraternal Hall, he noticed that the area around it was strangely lit up. Shady put a hand firmly on Jinx’s elbow and they both stood motionless, staring at the sight before them. The men in their white hooded robes were nowhere to be found, but there in front of the small building stood a large cross set ablaze.

HATTIE MAE’S

NEWS AUXILIARYJULY 20, 1918

Since the recent unfortunate happenings at the German Fraternal Hall, everyone has been on edge and the mood of the town has been somber. It is unclear if the motive was the Germans’ nationality or their attempt to organize at the mine. Mr. Keufer says future meetings of the order have been postponed until further notice.

It is in times like these that this news column cannot provide the needed comfort and solace. But as I was instructed in my journalism correspondence course through Harper’s Magazine

, a good reporter must continue to do her job, even in the most trying of times. These are certainly trying times.

It has been one year since the first “Yanks” went overseas, and the country hoped they would be home by Christmas past. However, our boys rally on. The American Defense Society continues to push for abolishing Hun names in America. For example, changing sauerkraut to liberty cabbage and frankfurters to patriotic pups. However, many folks in Manifest seem to think that a bit unnecessary. Especially Mr. Hermann Keufer, who rather likes his name and does not consider himself or his sauerkraut to be a threat to national security.

Many of the soldiers from Camp Funston had a rough boat ride overseas and are still feeling indisposed with flu symptoms. The army doctor says he’s never seen such a fast-spreading outbreak but it should soon be under control. The troops will be pleased to know that Velma T. has sent off more relief parcels with her newly concocted elixir.

For Mrs. Larkin, who hasn’t been feeling herself of late, the elixir went down fairly easy the day of the Women’s Temperance League meeting. After consuming nearly an entire bottle, she appeared to be feeling better, and although her rendition of “How Dry I Am” was a little off tune and a somewhat surprising selection for the gathering, she did seem to have a healthy glow about her.

On a sad note, the Widow Cane passed away in her home on July 1. A foremost authority on prairie flora and fauna, she could discuss at length the thirty-seven varieties of hydrangea in Crawford County. Mrs. Cane was blessed with ninety-three years of healthy living, and several people who attended the funeral commented, “She didn’t look a day over ninety.” For all the whos, whats, whys, whens, and wheres both here and abroad, turn to “Hattie Mae’s News Auxiliary.”

HATTIE MAE HARPER

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Dead or Alive

JUNE 17, 1936

I folded Hattie Mae’s article and found myself in the same somber mood the town of Manifest had been in after that cross had been set on fire in front of the German Fraternal Hall. It usually didn’t take me long to find a “News Auxiliary” that related to Miss Sadie’s stories. The events she’d told me about so far had taken place over the course of several months and Hattie Mae’s articles were all dated and ready for reading. Plus I had time on my hands.

Lettie and Ruthanne were away for a couple of days at their great-aunt Bert’s second funeral. Her first, they said, had been on Aunt Bert’s seventy-fourth birthday. She’d wanted to hear all the nice things folks would say about her, so they went ahead and held the services early.