Welcome back to the madness. Things are really mugged up. Let's get to the summary:

The Good of the Town, The Good of the People

Andy Sanders is at the funeral home after news of his wife's death. He thinks Big Jim would be nothing without his help in the background. Claudette and Jim had manipulated the finances of the drug store so their tax audit would find nothing. Big Jim visits with Andy and makes a big show of praying with him. They plan to vote on emergency powers "for the good of the town."

Julia Shumway is the local reporter with a pet corgi (like u/espiller1's Archie). Her cell phone doesn't work.  Big Jim didn't like the story she did about their tax shenanigans three years ago. Julia regrets not staying with Dodee after she delivered the bad news. Julia had to let the dog out and work on a new edition of the paper. There's a generator and hundreds of reams of paper in the office.

Her phone rings. Colonel James Cox needs to speak with Dale Barbara. She wonders why he can call in but no calls can get out. The military shut down communications. She will track him down for him. Col. Cox tells her to call him at Town Road no 3, i.e. Little Bitch Road (during mud season in the spring). He had called it the Dome. Barbie is getting ready for bed when Julia knocks. He thinks it's Junior come to beat him up again. When she tells him Ken says hello, he opens the door.

An Emergency Assessment Meeting is called in the town hall. Big Jim, Andy, Randolph, and Andrea Grinnell are in attendance. Andrea is addicted to pain pills so is a reliable yes vote for the two selectmen. They consider closing down the grocery store for fear there will be a run on food. They will only ban sales of alcohol and close the bar. Jim blames those "hippies" who run Dippers for the fight his son got in.

There are less than a dozen police left in town. Linda Everett doesn't count to Big Jim, but he thinks his little psycho son and his friends could be deputized. Junior is home from school because he got expelled. Perkins had written a note about it and wondered if he had behavioral issues. Andrea has concerns but is overruled. Then the generator died leaving them in darkness. Randolph is made police chief.

Junior hid the bodies of Angie and Dodee in the pantry of Angie's house. He had finally found out about the Dome. His father comes home, and he thinks of killing him until he learns he failed up to being made a cop. He kisses his dad.

Prayers

Barbie and Julia drive past the religious radio station with a powerful FM signal. Jim is a deacon there. On the AM station is a baseball game and a moment of silence for "the western Maine event." On the other side are bright lights and military trucks. A red stripe was painted around the outside. The guards won't talk to Barbie. He calls Col. Cox as Julia takes pictures. She won't be able to send them online or it will be cut off.

Cox says it's a Dome that lines up exactly with the town. 47,000 feet tall and 100 feet or more deep. It even pushed into the bedrock. Lasers go through them but missles don't. No one heard any explosions. Air can go through but is still at risk of pollution from furnaces and woodstoves.

When Barbie was in Iraq, he searched for bomb factories. His new mission is to find the source of the Dome and call the Colonel. On the way back, Julia tells him there's probably a Gieger counter in the town hall. There's a fallout shelter there, too. Big Jim thinks he owns it.

Reverend Piper Libby of the First Congregational Church no longer believes in God but keeps that to herself. Lester Coggins of Holy Redeemer is deadly certain of God and flagellates himself with a knotted rope until he bleeds. He hears God speak to him and tells him to open his Bible at random. It's the book of Deuteronomy and mentions smiting, madness, and the blind groping in darkness. God tells him to tell the congregation about Jim.

Brenda Perkins grieves the loss of her husband Howie "Duke" Perkins. She gets on her knees and prays for a final word from her husband. She looks through his computer to the file named VADER (about Big Jim). The Maine attorney general sent him a letter about Big Jim's misappropriation of town funds, Andy Sanders's involvement, and drug dealing! He spoke to her after all.

After the President's speech, Rusty Everett goes home. He regrets not buying a generator. There's a flashlight and a note on the door from his wife. Audrey the dog whines for no reason and has been doing so even before the Dome. Audrey wants him to follow her up the stairs. The dog scratches at their twin daughters' room. Their daughter Janelle is having a seizure. Her sister Judy is scared. She stops and comes to talking about Halloween and the Great Pumpkin (from the Charlie Brown special). Rusty promises she will get better with medicine.

Extras

Come a cropper: British slang for a defeat or disaster

Horace Greeley

LZ in Iraq: Landing Zone

FUBAR: F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair (I knew this military slang.)

Volstead Act: the Prohibition Act of 1919 and the 18th Amendment against alcohol. (Failed spectacularly. It really came a cropper.)

Pogey bait (I didn't know this one.)

On the Beach and Alas, Babylon: A book turned into a movie and a Playhouse 90 TV episode about nuclear fallout and isolation.

Oral Roberts University. Their sports team is the Eagles.

Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (poetic, isn't it?): from Hosea 8:7.

Deuteronomy 2:28

Dogs that detect seizures

Hop on over to the Marginalia if you read ahead and want a little surprise.

Join u/NightAngelRogue on July 3 for Part 10: Madness, Blindness, Astonishment of the Heart to Part 11: Not as Bad as It Gets.

Questions are in the comments. See you there.