The Present Day

Paradise, 1928.

June has been an uncharacteristically wet month - cats, dogs and even larger euphemistic animals coming almost daily, cricks swelling past their banks and streets near constantly holding an inch or two of water running slowly to east side of town.

In a town on the Virginia-Tennessee border, our characters (all but one) find themselves summoned to a modest office in a narrow two-story building on the south side of State Street. They may not have been to this particular place before, but the name on the “invitation” is familiar to each - Mr. J.T. Fields of Paradise, Tennessee.

Dorchester, VA - 1919

J.T. Fields is running a bait shop, where the bait is effective, but weirdly hard to look at. He also solves problems for people who need them, for a favor to be named later.