Countdown to release: Day 7

Black cherry juice for gout

My chiropractor, Harriet Segelcke, who is also deeply interested in homeopathic medicine, told me a simple cure for gout—a painful condition where uric acid forms crystals in the joints (often the toes). A glass or two of black cherry juice per day over a week will dissolve the crystals and relieve the pain. Of course, once it’s gone, it would be helpful to look into what’s going wrong in the diet to cause it in the first place.

Oran had stopped now, and was fiddling with the straps on the gray-sided buggy sitting next in line for repairs. “Medication ain’t so strange,” he muttered just loudly enough for her to hear. “It’s putting that burden on the church for no reason I can’t abide. Stuff’s expensive.” “No, it isn’t,” she chirped. “You can find it at the supermarket. Sometimes you can get it on sale for a dollar fifty-nine.” He huffed as if she were babbling nonsense, and turned to make his way through the big sliding door. “Black cherry juice did the trick, didn’t it, Simon?” She raised her voice just enough to carry through the door. “A couple of glasses a day, and Jacob was right as rain in a week. It dissolves what they call uric acid, you see, that forms crystals in the toes.” —Herb of Grace