Wish You Well

One day, Lou and Oz decide to investigate the interior of Louisa’s mine. When they creep inside, they find men already there: “A machine that looked like a pump was attached by hoses to the pipe and was making the hissing sound they had heard. The masked men were standing around the hole, but didn’t see the children” (278).

Back at home, the children confer with Cotton and Louisa. Cotton says the men have obviously found natural gas on the property. He encourages Louisa to strike a deal with them, but she refuses, stating that the mountain is her home.

The next afternoon, representatives of the Southern Gas and Coal Company offer Louisa one hundred thousand dollars for her property. Although Cotton supports the sale of the mineral rights, the men explain that they want to level the mountain and build a pipeline on the property, so they want the entire farm. Louisa still refuses to sell.

A few days later, Cotton takes the children to a down-on-the ground church service, which turns out to be another name for a community picnic. Although the festivities are cordial, many of the local people urge Cotton to persuade Louisa to sell. George Davis also wants the sale to go through so he can sell his own adjoining property. He harasses the children until Cotton intervenes but says in parting, “Lot of things happen, make somebody want’a sell” (291). 

Lou is rummaging around her father’s desk when she accidentally comes across a story he wrote as a teenager. She reads it to Louisa. It’s about a farmer who is discouraged by the hardship of his life and confides to a passing clergyman that he contemplates moving his family to the big city. Louisa ponders the story and admits that life on the mountain is hard, but the place is her home. Lou feels similarly: “And then Lou said something she thought she never would. ‘And now it’s my home too” (299). 

One chilly winter night, Lou awakens to the sound of screaming farm animals. The barn is ablaze. She rousts everyone from their beds, and the family tries vainly to put out the flames. They manage to save the horse and mule, but all the hogs die, and the barn collapses. After witnessing this catastrophe, Louisa suffers a stroke.

The Cardinals rush to the hospital in town, and the children stay there overnight. The next morning, the doctor says Louisa is awake, but she may remain paralyzed. Lou thinks, “She just couldn’t believe it. Her father, her mother. Diamond. Now Louisa. Paralyzed. Her mother had not moved a muscle for longer than Lou cared to think about. Was that to be Louisa’s fate too?” (304).

Cotton brings the children back home. That night, Lou mounts Sue and rides to Diamond’s cabin to mourn all her losses. On the way back, she’s attacked by a pack of wild dogs until they’re driven away by the prowling mountain lion, Ole Mo. 

Eugene and the children go to a local store to buy supplies to rebuild their barn because their remaining livestock could freeze to death if left outside all winter. The shopkeeper denies them credit, even though their account is paid up. Lou knows that the gas company men are trying to squeeze the Cardinal family out.

Cotton, Eugene, and the children attempt to salvage what supplies they can from the burned barn. After three days of ceaseless effort, they barely succeed in raising one corner of the new structure. Much to their amazement, a caravan of local folk arrives to raise a new barn. The people all recall Louisa’s kindness to them over the years and want to pay her back. Although the crew must work until long after sunset, they succeed in getting the new edifice erected: “The hayloft, stalls, storage bins, and such still needed to be built out, and the roll of roofing would eventually need to be covered with proper wood shingles, but the animals were inside and warm” (320-21).  

When Cotton drives the children into town to visit Louisa, Lou notices how many businesses are boarded up. The coal mining company has abandoned the mountain, and people are desperate for work. 

Louisa receives a notice that her back taxes are due and payable immediately. Cotton takes charge of the situation and sells his beloved book collection to raise the necessary $250. Shortly after leaving the courthouse, he is accosted by Hugh Miller, the gas company vice president, who now increases his company’s purchase offer to $500,000. When Cotton once more refuses, Miller takes matters into his own hands.