The Lady (Boy's Life)
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Boy's Life (1991) is a 580-page novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert R. McCammon.
The book is the tale of eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson who grows up in the town of Zephyr, Alabama, where magic and surprise are commonplace. The plot of the story starts out as Cory's father Tom, on his ordinary milkman route, watches a car drive straight into a deep lake and plunge down to the bottom with a passenger inside. He jumps into the lake in an attempt to save the driver of the car, and that is when the tale turns for the worst. The driver of this car has been the victim of murder. He is stripped naked, strangled with a copper wire, and handcuffed to the steering wheel. This vision and the realization that there is evil in the small town of Zephyr is enough to haunt Cory's father. An old woman called the Lady might be able to help Cory's father, but he won't go to her. Cory also has several adventures with his friends ( Johnny, Davy Ray, and Ben) such as flying after school is out the last day of school. Cory has a dog named Rebel and a bike named Rocket. Cory also has an eccentric grandfather, whose name is Jaybird.
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[edit] The Lady and Old Moses
The Lady is a character in the fictional novel Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon. She is a major character in the book in the sense that she represents many things to the residents in the town of Zephyr, as well as the fact that she is involved with much of the plot. When Cory first meets her up close, she claims to be 106 years old.
The Lady is seen as an imporant figure in the society of the book, an odd sort of thing due to her being African-American and the setting of the book being in the South not too long after the Civil Rights Movement.
Old Moses is a beast living in the Tecumseh River. It is later revealed as a sort of sea serpent, when it confronts the main character Cory in a flood. It is, however, first revealed as an unknown beast which The Lady named Damballah. She is shown to have a mysterious tie with the beast as well as other things in Zephyr.
[edit] Family
The Lady lives in a brightly colored home, painted orange, red, yellow, and purple. Despite her position in the society, The Lady's house is very much like any other house in the area. She lives with her husband, the Moon Man (known for half his face being paled and paralyzed, though this condition's origin isn't explained). She also lves under the care of a husky, muscular man named Charles Damaronde and his gentle wife Amelia. Because Zephyr is still quite segregated, they are all African-American and live in the black section of Zephyr named Bruton.
[edit] Voodoo
Early on in the book, as well as later on, The Lady is seen as a sort of voodoo witch by the residents of Zephyr. However, at the end of the chapter "A Summons from the Lady," Cory is given a drink named "Potion Number Ten" to help him pass math. To Cory's mother, The Lady admits to the potion being a glass of milk with nutmeg flavoring mixed in. When asked about it, The Lady says, "You just give the folks a key, and they can rightly open their own locks."
In the chapter "High Noon in Zephyr," The Lady's husband the Moon Man is deputized by the local sheriff to fight off the Blaylocks as the sheriff and his volunteers attempt to get Donny Blaylock off to jail for the murder of Little Stevie Cauley in a race with his car Midnight Mona. When Biggun Blaylock pulls the triggers of a shotgun aimed point-blank at the Moon Man, the ammunition both inside the gun and the satchel of shells turned to garden snakes. This is lead to belief of being The Lady's doing, as the Moon Man comments, "My wife. She one craaaaazy old lady."
[edit] The Dead Man and the Dreams
Cory's father is haunted by a man murdered in the Saxon's Lake, and in the chapter "A Summons from the Lady," it is revealed that the lady suffers similar dreams. She claims to have experienced dreams about other spirits and unrelated things in the chapter "The Magic Box," yet she still urges Cory's father to confer with her about the dreams. She is yet again turned down and both continue to be haunted by the dreams.
[edit] Past
Not much is known about The Lady's past, though she claims to have lived one thousand lifetimes seeing what others only "looked at" as she pursued a woman named LaRouge. When Cory stares deeply into The Lady's emerald-green eyes, he is able to see the young, beaurtiful woman who travelled the globe in a wild goose chase.
She claims to have grown up in a leper community.
