This Tender Land

Albert, who doesn’t trust Forrest, wakes the others to leave early the next morning. They stop to rest a few hours later. Albert shows Odie one of the Brickmans’ letters. The letter is not signed but mentions $20 to be given to Albert and Odie, which they never received. They assume it was written by their Aunt Julia and resolve to look for her in St. Louis, Missouri. Unable to sleep that night, Odie and Emmy watch as a field lights up with fireflies; Odie promises her that they will return someday.

The next evening, they take refuge from a storm on the banks of the Minnesota River. After the storm ends, they hear singing.

Following the sound, they come to a large tent, home to a religious revival. A woman in a white robe, known as Sister Eve, preaches a message of hope to the audience. A man comes to the stage with his son, whose back is bent. Sister Eve places her hands on the boy, who is apparently healed.

A young man in the back of the tent calls, “Bullshit!” and makes other crude comments. Sister Eve approaches him. After clasping his hand, she asks him about the death of his mother and the guilt he carries as a result. He resists for a moment, then weeps. Sister Eve asks whether he believes, and he says that he does. She tells him to “let your soul be at rest” (185). He leaves peacefully.

Back on the riverbank, Odie struggles to sleep, thinking about DiMarco and Jack. Hearing more music, he wanders back to the tent and plays along.

The next morning, Albert goes into town to find food. Separately, Odie takes Emmy for a walk in the town. They run into Sister Eve, who instantly understands Emmy after clasping her hand. Sister Eve makes Odie promise to return to the revival that evening.

Albert argues against staying for the revival meeting but gives in when Mose, Odie, and Emmy oppose him. Seated in the tent just before the meeting, Emmy asks Odie whether he can play “Beautiful Dreamer.” The meeting opens with music and more miraculous healings.

A man goes to the stage, dragging his dead wife with him. Sister Eve learns that the man, who refuses to accept that his wife is dead, struck her during an argument, killing her. Angry at Sister Eve’s refusal to “fix her,” the man threatens to shoot Sister Eve. At that moment, Emmy asks Odie to play “Beautiful Dreamer.” He does so, and Sister Eve sings along. The man falls to his knees and cries, dropping his gun.

Odie and Emmy dine with Sister Eve. She asks how Odie knew that “Beautiful Dreamer” was the man’s wife’s favorite song, and he tells her that he was following Emmy’s instructions. Over the objections of her business manager, Sid Calloway, Sister Eve invites Emmy and Odie to join the revival, the Sword of Gideon Healing Crusade, which will eventually reach St. Louis.

Back at camp, Odie discusses her invitation with Albert, who wants to leave. He warns Odie that Sister Eve’s show is deceptive. Odie falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds Sister Eve talking to Albert and Mose, whom she has convinced to join the crusade.

Sister Eve presents Odie and Emmy as her relatives as they join the crusade. A day later, Mose and Albert join as laborers. A few days pass, and Odie thinks of joining the crusade permanently; Albert warns that their situation is “too good to last” (209).

Odie joins the band that accompanies Sister Eve. Whisker, the pianist, teaches him to play collaboratively. He tells him that, when Sid joined Sister Eve’s fledgling crusade, he added lights, music, food, and more to make it successful. Whisker also shows Odie three snakes that Sid and Sister Eve use in some of their shows, including a rattlesnake named Lucifer.

Odie describes the crusade’s members and routines, comparing it to a family. He contrasts Sister Eve’s generous influence with Mrs. Brickman’s frightening presence at Lincoln School.

One day, Odie finds Sister Eve in a state of prayerful meditation near the river. She explains that she takes time each day to “open [her] heart to the beauty of this whole divine creation” (216). Someone calls Sister Eve back to the crusade. They arrive to find Emmy emerging from one of her fits. She tells Odie, “He’s okay,” then adds, “We beat the devil” (217). Moments later, Odie overhears an argument between Sister Eve and Sid, who wants to leave Odie and Emmy behind. Sid tells Sister Eve of an offer for her to produce a national radio show.

Odie grows suspicious of Sid, who leaves for hours each day. One day, Odie hides in the back of Sid’s car. Sid drives to a nearby city. Odie watches from a distance as Sid pays money to several people who were seemingly healed in Sister Eve’s show.

Back at the crusade, Odie struggles to contain his anger at Sid and Sister Eve. Seizing an opportunity to examine the contents of Sid’s bag, Odie finds a syringe and a few vials. He concludes that Sid is a drug addict and takes the vials, which he throws in the river. Meeting Albert, Mose, and Emmy, Odie tells them about Sid’s payments. They decide to talk to Whisker.

Odie asks Whisker whether Sister Eve’s miracles are real. Rather than give a straight answer, Whisker suggests that “things seem cut-and-dried, but it ain’t that way” (230). Odie, Albert, Mose, and Emmy visit Sister Eve in the tent. After Odie calls her “a liar,” Sister Eve takes his hand and tries to calm him. Odie accuses her of being “as fake as this cobra” and holds out one of the crusade’s harmless snakes (231). Startled, Emmy stumbles backward, knocking over the case where Lucifer, the rattlesnake, is kept. Albert leaps to protect her, and Lucifer bites him. Mose kills the snake.

Seeing Albert’s wound, Sid says that he has antivenom. Odie realizes that the vials he threw in the river were antivenom, not drugs, and confesses his mistake. They take Albert to a doctor, who sends for antivenom. Fearing that the poison will kill Albert in the hours before the antivenom arrives, the doctor offers to amputate Albert’s leg, but Albert and Odie refuse.

Albert’s condition worsens. Sister Eve asks Odie why he didn’t ask her to heal Albert. Odie responds that he doesn’t believe she can. Sister Eve explains that the people Sid pays were healed by God, not her, and that their performances on stage recreate what happened to them in the past to build others’ faith. Odie asks about Sister Eve’s gift for understanding people, and she explains that she gained “the ability to see into the minds and lives of others” after her father killed her mother and beat her (242), leaving her scarred, then committed suicide. She tells Odie that Albert can be healed only if he believes. Odie tries to convince Albert to say that he believes, but Albert says only one word: “Liar.” As a storm breaks, flooding the streets, Odie leaves, sure that the antivenom will arrive too late.

Odie goes to the riverbank, cries, and curses God. As the storm ends, Sister Eve appears and leads Odie back to the doctor’s office. Odie enters to find Albert alive but weak after receiving the antivenom. Mose tells Odie that the doctors called Albert’s survival a “miracle.” Odie asks Mose whether he believes in God. Mose answers that he believes in God as love.

Odie asks Sister Eve whether she knew Albert would recover. She explains that she can only see a person’s desires, not their future. Odie asks what she sees in him and his companions. She explains that Albert wants to protect Odie, Mose wants to find out who he is, Emmy doesn’t know what she wants, and Odie wants to find home.

After a day in the clinic, Albert is moved back to the crusade’s tents. Sid asks Sister Eve to highlight Albert’s recovery in the evening’s show, but she refuses. The next day, a story with Albert’s picture appears in a newspaper, attributing his recovery to Sister Eve. Sister Eve confronts Sid, who admits that he submitted the story.

Fearing that Mrs. Brickman will see the story, Odie resolves to leave the crusade. As they say goodbye to Sister Eve, they see the Brickmans’ car approaching. They set off down the river, with Mose and Odie rowing since Albert is weak. Hours later, they stop at a forested island. Odie lights a fire, plays a few songs, and begins to tell a story.

Odie tells a story about a giant, a wizard, a fairy princess, and an imp, representing Mose, Albert, Emmy, and himself, respectively. In the story, a perceptive woman much like Sister Eve sends the four companions on an “odyssey” to overthrow the Black Witch. Odie ends the story before revealing whether they succeed. Afterward, unable to sleep, Odie reflects that, although he has no home, he knows “exactly where [his] heart” is (260).