What is a summary of chapter 1?

Chapter 1: Shotgun Cheatham's Last Night Above Ground.

In the book, the narrator, Joey Dowdel, tells stories about his childhood, summer adventures at his grandmother's.

In the summer of 1929, Joey is nine, while his sister, Mary Alice, is seven. They lament that they have never seen a dead body before, which is unusual since they live in Chicago during the era of Al Capone and Bugs Moran. Instead, Joey remembers that they had to travel to St. Louis, where their grandmother lived, in order to see a 'stiff.' He relates that he felt happy to be traveling by train to their grandmother's house.

Mary Alice, on the other hand, isn't too enthusiastic about staying at their grandmother's. She frets that there is never anything interesting to do there. However, things change when a supposed Civil War hero by the name of Shotgun Cheatham dies in St. Louis. Joey and Mary Alice soon spread the rumor that a reporter has been asking around about Cheatham. When they tell their grandma about the reporter, their grandmother scoffs that the reporter just wants to write a sensational story about the supposedly backward people living in St. Louis. She says that Cheatham was just an 'old reprobate who lived poor and died broke.'

Not to be deterred, the children apprise Grandma Dowdel of all the stories people are telling about Cheatham at the Coffee Pot Cafe. Their grandmother counters that these stories are probably the work of Effie Wilcox and that they should never trust the words of an ugly, old woman. She argues that Cheatham came to be known as Shotgun when he indiscriminately shot off a round of bullets and killed off a cow when he was ten.

Soon, the reporter comes calling to ask about Shotgun. In response, Grandma Dowdel tells the reporter that Shotgun was a decorated Civil War veteran. The kids are astounded at the fantastic tales their grandmother seems to be spouting off. When she is done, Shotgun has evolved from being a disreputable gunslinger to a courageous war veteran with philanthropic tendencies. Grandma Dowdel even adds that Shotgun jilted Effie Wilcox and that she never got over it. Before the reporter leaves, Grandma Dowdel tells the reporter to let everyone in town know that Shotgun will be buried with full honors from her house.

Despite their curiosity about Grandma Dowdel's gesture, many people make their way to her house for the vigil. The reporter is also there, and he finds himself distressed when Effie Wilcox takes a seat next to him. The story is that Effie has just been dismissed from an insane asylum; her comment about the 'natural' look of the dead man doesn't help either.

As the night wears on, the gauze hanging from the coffin appears to move. Some unspecific and ambiguous movement appears to mimic the hand of the dead man reaching up out of the coffin. Meanwhile, Grandma Dowdel grabs her twelve-gauge Winchester and fires off both barrels. The reporter and Effie Wilcox exit the house in great alarm, not sure whether they are more troubled by an awakening dead man or Grandma's shotgun skills. Mary Alice says that the whole event gave her nightmares for years to come.

The reality is that Grandma's 'snaggletoothed tomcat' was actually the culprit batting at the gauze; Joey is pretty sure that his grandmother saw her cat jump out of the coffin. He thinks that's when she got the idea to have fun at the reporter and Effie Wilcox's expense. Joey relates that his grandmother probably wanted to chase off the nosy reporter, believing that he had no right to pry into the affairs of the town. Nevertheless, Joey asserts that Grandma Dowdel's actions gave the town much to talk about for the rest of the summer and that she also earned a reprieve from the machinations of nosy neighbors for long years to come.