Down that Dixie Highway
an excerpt

DOWN THAT DIXIE HIGHWAY

A NOVEL FOR YOUNG READERS
SYNOPSIS

Thirteen-year-old Sissy Holt has never had much, except her small family, and a simple life in Jasper, Georgia. But when her father, affectionately nicknamed ‘Sweet Daddy,’ suddenly dies, Mama plunges into a state of lovelorn despair.
Memaw Gracie, with her spunk and kooky southern flair, swoops in to save the day. Soon after the funeral, Sissy is whisked to Meriwether County to spend the summer on Gracie’s farm. Now distanced from her grieving mother, Sissy settles in at the farmhouse, listening to her granny’s tales about their jagged family tree, larking about with her second cousin Gabe, and dining on a mess of home cooked (mostly fried) meals. Gabe has been sent to the farm over the summer too, because he’s in trouble at home. His grades are poor—his stepfather called him a “dummy” – the kid who couldn’t do anything right.
One afternoon, while sifting through a family photo album, Sissy notices an old, tattered, black-and-white photograph of a stranger holding her when she was a baby. “Who is that man?” Sissy asks. Memaw has an unusual reaction—resistance. Memaw Gracie, usually eager to discuss family lore, first denies knowing the man. She later claims he is Sweet Daddy’s estranged and deadbeat brother, and is nothing but trouble.
This photograph, and the person in it, becomes the catalyst for a quest that will take Sissy and her cousin Gabe on a secret journey into the attic to ‘air out’ the past. The startling clues they find inside a small shoebox sends Sissy and Gabe secretly snooping all over town—the archives of the newspaper, city hall, and even a fortuneteller at the county line.
Soon, the jig is up. Someone informs Memaw Gracie that her grandkids are asking questions about Buddy Lee Holt. Memaw Gracie is worried and suspicious, because she knows the truth. She confronts the kids and demands that they stop investigating.
But it’s too late. Sissy can’t stop. She has already learned that the stranger in the photograph is actually her biological father. Sissy is determined to find him—even though she’s warned not to. Sissy must know more. Sweet Daddy would have wanted her to know the truth. And she longs for a connection that will bring her closer to her dead father.
Finally, in a desperate and risky move, Sissy searches Memaw Gracie’s bedroom for more clues. After rummaging through old stacks of stuff under Memaw Gracie’s bed, Sissy also “finds” enough money to do the unthinkable! The kids audaciously hop a bus and ride to the coastal town of Fearnot, Florida. Before they go, Sissy mails Mama a bombshell of a letter.
Gabe, trying very hard not to be a dummy, leaves a note behind for Memaw Gracie, telling her what is going on with Sissy and where they are headed. For safety’s sake…
Memaw Gracie and Mama are frantic with worry once they discover the kids are gone. They call the police. There is a statewide manhunt for the “missing” kids. But Mama and Memaw have a hunch as to where the kids are, and so they aren’t far behind.
Once the kids arrive in Florida, the address they have leads them to a gator swamp, where they find Buddy Lee Holt—the man in the photograph. Sissy’s real father. With the stark realization that this ‘stranger’ is her biological father, Sissy must somehow deal with a newfound fatherly relationship and an abrupt change in her own self-identity. This man is not only her father, but also a living connection to Sweet Daddy. Surprisingly, he is a less of a monster than Sissy feared, but she can’t help but ask why he walked out on her and Mama, so many years ago. And why he’s stayed away.
Buddy Lee is forced to face up to his mistakes and a lifetime of bad choices. His regret is evident. He admits that when he was younger he was immature and stupid, and that he’s paid a terrible price. Shame kept him from contacting Sissy (and a few fiery threats from Memaw Gracie).
With the help of police, Memaw Gracie and Mama catch up with the kids and Buddy Lee. Mama tells Sissy that it is her decision whether or not she wants to have a relationship with Buddy Lee. Memaw Gracie, ever the stubborn protector, reminds Sissy that fatherly love is something far deeper than genetics.

…to be continued!!!