The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

interstate that would lead us south to Wright.
    I’d offered to drive, but Sam said he was so familiar with the route that he didn’t mind being at the wheel. “I’m just glad to have company making the drive, for once,” he said. “I’ve had to go over to Wright so often since the announcement.” Sam’s mom had had a huge crisis the evening of the big two-natured reveal, broadcast worldwide; her second husband had been so startled by the fact that his wife could turn into an animal that he’d shot her.
    “But you’ve got the one sister and the one brother,” I said.
    “Yeah, Mindy and Craig. Mindy’s twenty-six. She’s married to Doke Ballinger. She went to high school with him. They have two kids, Mason and Bonnie. They live about thirty miles away in Mooney.”
    “What’s the name of the woman Craig’s marrying? Daisy? Denise?”
    “Deidra. She’s from Wright, too. She and Craig have both been going to UT Dallas. She’s a real pretty girl, only nineteen, and Craig’s twenty-four. He went into the army before he started college.”
    “Lots of military service in your family.” Sam and Craig’s dad had been retired army.
    Sam shrugged. “Because of Dad, we’re all used to the service as an option. It’s not a huge leap like it is for some families. Craig always liked Deidra, but when he was in high school, she was way too young for him to think about as a date. He did call her when he found out another kid from Wright was going to UT Dallas, and he says they were gone on each other after the first date.”
    “Aw. That’s so sweet. I guess all this trouble has been really hard on them.”
    “Yeah. Craig was pretty mad at me and Mom for a while, and then he accepted it, but Deidra’s folks freaked out. The wedding got postponed a couple of times.”
    I nodded. Sam had told me how his brother’s fiancée’s family had reacted to the news that her about-to-be mother-in-law sometimes ran on four feet.
    “So instead of sending out new invitations, the Lisles just put a notice in the Wright paper.”
    “How big is Wright?”
    Sam laughed. “About as big as Bon Temps. Except in the tourist season. There’s a river that runs a little west of Wright, and there’s a lot of rafting and camping. At night, those rafters and campers are looking for something to do, so there’re a couple of big bars that have live bands. And there’s a western-wear store and a riding stable for beginners on up, for when people want to take a break from the water. Stuff like that. Wright’s a pretty conservative place, though. Everyone’s glad when the tourists leave in the fall.”
    “Has your mom had any trouble with the rest of the town since the shooting?” Sam had been the target of one protest in the Merlotte’s parking lot, but since then things had died down—for good, I hoped.
    “I’m reading between the lines, but yes, I think people haven’t been as friendly as they used to be. Don’s a local guy. He’s got cousins and stuff all around Wright.”
    “He’s in jail now, right?”
    “Yeah, he couldn’t make bail. He never denied he shot Mom. I don’t understand why there’s any sympathy for him.”
    I didn’t say anything, but I could sort of understand feeling sympathy for someone who’d suddenly discovered his wife changed into a different creature. Of course, shooting that wife was a gross overreaction, but watching your wife transform into a dog . . . That would shake any man. However, that was not my problem to solve, and I was certainly sorry the whole incident had happened.
    I was not walking into a normal, happy family wedding. I already knew some of what Sam was saying, but maybe I should have asked more questions before I got in the truck. I thought of the shotgun my brother had given me, sitting uselessly in the closet in my house.
    “You look kinda worried, Sookie,” Sam said, and I could read the dismay in his brain. “I wouldn’t have brought you if I thought there was a way in the world something bad would happen to you.”
    “Sam, I hope you have the whole picture of what’s going on in Wright,” I said. “I know you asked me to go with you before you started dating Jannalynn, but I really wouldn’t have minded if you’d wanted to take her.” He understood the subtext. Though he’d told me Jannalynn’s habits and manners weren’t family-pleasing, she had excellent natural defenses. In fact, she was the enforcer for the Shreveport pack. What was I going