the last book I ever read (Dawnie Walton's The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, excerpt eight)

from The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton:

VIRGIL LAFLEUR:

We’d had trespassers and troublemakers come up our stoop. Vampires and looky-loos, reporters scheming to get their blood… Miss Ernestine had broached the idea of reinforcing the front gate with chicken wire, which was a rather drastic and country-Georgia solution, but I was not of the mind that making our home feel more like a prison was best for encouraging Mad to be positive. So we simply ignored the knocks and the ringing of the bell, kept the shutters closed and the chains and dead bolts engaged. But before long Miss Ernestine had had enough—she decamped to stay temporarily with one of her sons—and then there was someone new at the door, pounding and yelling and, my God, singing.