Vengeance Is Mine

In October of 1967, the Summer of Love is history, rock androll is dark and revolutionary, and people in the small east Texas community ofCenter Springs simply want to live their lives as quietly as possible. But ahandsome darkness in the form of Las Vegas gangster Anthony Agrioli has leftthe business to hide out in their tiny backwater settlement with his blondbombshell girlfriend. Two years earlier, Agrioli met newlyweds Cody and Norma FayeParker in a Vegas casino and heard their enthusiastic descriptions of theperfect place to settle down and raise a family. At least it was perfect, before their peaceful worldfound itself in the crosshairs of a coming confrontation. Back in Center Springs, thirteen-year-old Top Parker has whathis grandmother, Miss Becky, calls a poisoned gift: his dreams, though randomand disconnected, always seem to come true. This time Top dreams he’s a wagonhub with spokes converging from all directions. To him, the spokes symbolizethat something is coming. He doesn’t know their quiet community will soon be acombat zone when the gangsters arrive. But they’re after something else, notAgrioli … yet. A sheriff crooked as a dog’s hind leg, an unsolved murder inthe river bottoms, counterfeit money, and a bank robbery all wrapped in acountry Shakespearean comedy once again bring together Constables Ned and Cody Parker, Deputy John Washington, Judge O. C. Rains, and the restof Wortham’s real and sometimes wacky cast of characters.