From a new edition of Divine Days, which was published last month in the inaugural volume from Seminary Co-op Offsets, an imprint of Northwestern University Press.

That evening, several gifts saluted my return to Eloise’s Night Light Lounge, and customers were treating me to drinks before I took over the six o’clock shift from our barmaid Gracie Rae Gooden, but within ninety minutes I was in deep trouble with that celebrated oddity, Miss Daisy Dawes.

Here’s how it happened. As the voice of Ray Charles sang out from the jukebox “You Are My Sunshine,” I had begun a certain…