Discovering that this other winner is black seems to vindicate his conspiracy theory that the government is keeping "Christian white men" from winning the lottery, and makes his and Chub's next decision easy.

Meanwhile, Bode and Chub approach "Shiner," the clerk at the convenience store where JoLayne bought her winning ticket, and convince him to hand over the security video showing her purchase by playing on his small-town boredom and offering him a place within the new "brotherhood."

His girlfriend, Katie, is married to a violent circuit court judge named Arthur Battenkill, who sent his law clerk Champ Powell to burn down Tom's house.

Unknown to Tom, his lawyer plans to use the situation to his client's advantage: his estranged wife, Mary Andrea, has gone to absurd lengths to avoid being served with divorce papers, including assuming false names and traveling throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Chub is interrupted in his attempt to rape Amber by a shotgun wound to his shoulder, while Bode is knocked unconscious and tied up, allowing JoLayne to remove a lottery ticket from his wallet.

While Shiner is driving her home, Amber is surprised to discover the other winning ticket (the one originally belonging to JoLayne) hidden in an empty chamber of Chub's revolver.

His dire financial plight was caused by runaway bank computers and conniving Wall Street Zionists; his bad luck in the South Florida job market, prejudice against English-speaking applicants.

Even the lousy weather had a culprit: air pollution from Canada, diluting the ozone and derailing the jet stream... A series of unhealthy friendships eventually drew Bode Gazzer into the culture of hate and hard-core bigotry.

Previously, when dishing out fault for his plight, Bode had targeted generic authority figures - parents, brothers, cops, judges - without considering factors such as race, religion or ethnicity.

For instance, Chub had been stung when his parents scorned him as a tax cheat, but Bode Gazzer made him feel better by enumerating the many sound reasons why no full-blooded white American male should give a nickel to the Infernal Revenue.