Because of Winn-Dixie

Opal tells Gloria stories because she cannot read anymore. After one story, Opal decides to ask Gloria about Otis. She tells Gloria that Otis is a criminal, and she wonders if she should be afraid of him because he has done bad things. Gloria walks Opal to her backyard, where there is a tree full of swinging glass bottles—wine and beer and whiskey bottles, mostly. Gloria explains the bottles are meant “to keep the ghosts away […]. the ghosts of all the things I done wrong” (95). Gloria explains she used to have an alcohol addiction, just like Opal’s mama, but she does not drink anymore. She did many bad things, but then she learned what is important in life. She tells Opal never to judge people by what they have done, only what they do now. Opal knows Otis as a man who is kind to animals and plays beautiful music, and so she should judge him as such. Opal understands. She stands back a moment to look at the tree after Gloria and Winn-Dixie go back to the porch. The tree makes her sad: “I wondered if my mama, wherever she was, had a tree full of bottles; and I wondered if I was a ghost to her, the same way she sometimes seemed like a ghost to me” (97).

Opal spends some time on a hot summer day at the library with Miss Franny Block, and Winn-Dixie hogs the fan. Opal asks Miss Franny for a book she might read to a blind friend—Gloria Dump. Miss Franny recommends Gone with the Wind, which Opal has never heard of before. This gets Miss Franny talking about her great-grandfather Littmus Block’s role in the Civil War. Just as she begins a story, Amanda Wilkinson comes in demanding a new book. Amanda joins them for the story—Opal notices that “she pretended like she wasn’t interested, but she was, I could tell” (103).

Miss Franny begins the story by explaining that her great-grandfather was only 14 when the war began. His father had already enlisted, so he decided to join him. She believes that “[men] and boys always want to fight. They are always looking for a reason to go to war” (105). When Littmus gets to the front, however, he is starving, covered in lice and fleas, and always hot or freezing. He gets shot at and comes home a changed man. He must walk all the way home from Virginia after the war ends, only to find his daddy dead, along with his mother and sisters, from typhoid fever. The Yankees had burned his house down. Littmus was an orphan, with nothing left. Opal is horrified and feels a strong connection to Miss Franny’s father: “It was important to me to hear how Littmus survived after losing everything he loved” (109).

Miss Franny finishes the story of Littmus Block by explaining that he found himself, in all his grief, wanting a piece of candy. So, he walked all the way to Florida, built himself a candy factory, and produced Littmus Lozenges. This candy was the reason behind the family fortune, though the lozenges are not produced anymore. Miss Franny opens her desk to reveal drawers full of candies and offers them to the girls and Winn-Dixie. Opal believes they taste like strawberry, root beer, and sadness. Amanda agrees. Opal is curious about this: “I wondered what in the world Amanda Wilkinson had to feel sad about” (114). Just then, Amanda looks as if she might cry. Amanda says she misses someone named Carson and runs out of the library. Opal takes more candies to give to her friends and rides to Gloria Dump’s garden on her bicycle. She waves at the Dewberry boys, who hesitate but wave back. She wonders who Carson could be.