Just another GR refugee. Other than that, I had a stroke in 2004, and read almost anything I can get my hands on, though I have a particular weakness for history, mystery, and historical fiction.
This is really starting very well. Sets the scene, of rural Mississippi, well. (I haven't been there, but grew up partly in rural eastern N.C., so this is a setting that isn't foreign to me, shall we say.) Nice characterization.
I look forward to seeing how it develops.