Storming Heaven

C. J. is now married to a woman, Violet, has two daughters, and continues to run the drugstore Ermel owns. C.J. notices that Rondal is “crazy about Isom” (52) and speculates that it is because Isom’s family has money, but he wishes Rondal would realize there’s not much to Isom besides his money. C. J. knows Rondal is smart and sends him to meet his friend Doc Booker, a black doctor, who gives Rondal a stack of medical books. Soon, Rondal is dissecting frogs and taking an interest in medicine. Nevertheless, Rondal often goes with Isom to his father, Ermel’s, gambling room, which has pool, a bar, and slot machines. Even though gambling is illegal in Annadel, the police look the other way.

One winter, many people become sick with cholera, and C. J. gives Doc Booker medicine to help cure them. After the sickness has passed, Doc Booker takes C. J. to see the people he helped in the nearby town of Jenkinjones. Many people are hesitant to see a black doctor and call Doc Booker racist names as he passes through, but as Doc Booker observes, when a woman “need a doctor for her young’un, she dont care if it’s a Negro.