Summer in the South commonly hangs on like a tick in a dogfight, and that summer would prove to be the hottest since 1934. Several major weather events had occurred that year, and by the first calendar day of fall, September 23, everyone and everything was over summer. The heatwave had been followed by drought, and in Kentucky, where livelihoods depended upon fertile fields, all anyone could talk about was the need for rain, until the body was found.
Kacie Lawrence
KIRKSEY (Calloway County)