The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, ableism, involuntary institutionalization, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and substance misuse.

In June 1972, state troopers discover a skeleton in an old well in the town of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. A mezuzah is found with the body, so the authorities consult the last remaining member of the Chicken Hill neighborhood’s Jewish community. The mezuzah has a Hebrew inscription that reads, “Home of the Greatest Dancer in the World” (3). The elderly Jewish man, Malachi, used to be renowned for his dancing before he gave it up 40 years ago. The state troopers plan to revisit Malachi once they’ve gathered more evidence.

However, the next day, Hurricane Agnes wreaks death and destruction in Pottstown, obliterating the crime scene. Chicken Hill’s Black residents see the hurricane as an act of divine justice because it shelters Malachi, avenges Miss Chona and a boy named Dodo, and sends “the bones of that rotten scoundrel” (6) to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. When the troopers return to Malachi’s house, they discover that he’s escaped, never to be found.