Because of Winn-Dixie

Everyone rushes inside. Opal and the preacher save the punch and sandwiches. Amanda helps Miss Franny, and Opal helps Gloria. Opal reminds Otis to come inside with his pickles, and Sweetie Pie saves her dog pictures. When everyone is inside, Gertrude reminds Opal that Winn-Dixie is missing. Opal is devastated and runs outside to find him. She looks under every chair and table in the yard, but Winn-Dixie is gone. Just then, the Dewberry boys show up. Opal is upset but greets them kindly. They offer to help find Winn-Dixie, but Opal does not accept the invitation. She and the preacher go out to find Winn-Dixie with flashlights and umbrellas. Before they leave, Gloria reminds Opal, “There ain’t no way you can hold one to something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it” (159).

Opal and the preacher head out, whistling and calling Winn-Dixie’s name. Because it is raining, it is easy for Opal to cry. They search everywhere for hours, but do not find Winn-Dixie. Opal makes a list of things she knows about Winn-Dixie, so she can have them if he never comes back. As she makes her list, she realizes “a list of things couldn’t even begin to show somebody the real Winn-Dixie, just like a list of things couldn’t ever get me to know my mama” (164). Opal is afraid Winn-Dixie has been hit by a car. She cries some more. Finally, the preacher announces they must give up. Opal is angry and refuses. She accuses the preacher of letting her mama go too. The preacher cries, asking Opal if she does not think he wishes every day to have her mama back. The two hold each other, crying. Opal asks the preacher if her mama will ever come back. The preacher says no. Finally, they stand up. The rain is coming to an end. The preacher says they will keep looking, and they walk back to town.

When the preacher and Opal return to Gloria’s house, they hear music. Otis is playing guitar and the kids are singing. Opal is mad at first, because she has still not found Winn-Dixie, but Gloria reveals that Winn-Dixie had been inside all along. Winn-Dixie comes out from under a chair, yawning. Gloria tells the story of how Otis played music while they waited for the preacher and Opal, and suddenly they heard sneezing from inside the house. Winn-Dixie was hiding under the bed, but he was smiling so much when Otis played, he sneezed. Otis coaxed Winn-Dixie out, and they had been waiting for the preacher and Opal ever since, becoming good friends with each other. Gloria says, “But we got pickles to eat. And Littmus Lozenges. And we still got a party going on” (175). The preacher asks Otis if he knows any hymns, and he settles down to sing too. Opal excuses herself to go outside for a moment.

Opal goes outside to speak to her mama through Gloria’s mistake tree. She says, “[…] my heart doesn’t feel empty anymore. It’s full all the way up. I’ll still think about you, I promise. But probably not as much as I did this summer” (178). Dunlap comes outside then, and races Opal back inside. Opal goes in and Otis begins to play a song, while she leans against the preacher and Winn-Dixie leans against her. Everyone begins to sing, and Opal listens to the words.