Demon Copperhead

Despite how many friends he has at school and how well his life is going now, Demon can’t help but look “behind whoever is being nice to him that day to see what’s coming. Still your jack-shit homeless orphan, just faking it in nice clothes” (255). Demon has an odd encounter with U-Haul, who takes him into Coach Winfield’s home office and warns him not to think of himself as family. U-Haul resents that he’s been working for Winfield for 11 years like a babysitter.

Mr. Armstrong arranges for his wife, a high school art teacher named Mrs. Annie, to work on Demon’s drawings with him.

The Winfield house prepares for Betsy’s visit. If Demon can prove he’s been doing well, Betsy will sign over guardianship to Coach Winfield. Demon attends football camp and learns how to be a tight end under the tutelage of the JV coach, Mr. Briggs.

Demon notices that Coach Winfield drinks a lot during the off-season. Angus explains that it’s due to the pain of losing his wife.

At school, Mr. Armstrong challenges Demon and his peers to think critically about their language and history. Mr. Armstrong is a popular teacher who opens up deep discussions about race, history, and politics in his English class. He teaches students about the Great Migration, the history of the Confederate flag, and Appalachia’s coal mining past. He encourages Demon to explore his “Melungeon” heritage. “Melungeon” refers to someone of diverse racial ancestry: Black, white, and Indigenous American.

Angus is now in high school and petitions to create a team to participate in an academic competition, but the school board, which is comprised of former miners rather than educators, rejects her proposal. Demon’s promised field trip to the ocean for being in the Gifted and Talented program derails when the girls he is traveling with annoy their chaperone and she turns the car around.

Demon continues private art classes with Mrs. Annie, whom he has a crush on. In Mr. Armstrong’s class, the students present on their family backgrounds. Lee County’s history is so entwined with the coal mining industry that most of the students have projects about relatives who mined. It was a dangerous job: “If a miner didn’t get buried alive, the question was what part of him would give out first: lungs, back, or knees” (278). Lee County’s population is descended from hardworking miners, and even in contemporary time, older men refuse government financial support out of a sense of pride and honor. The students learn about strikes and the Battle of Bear Mountain. The miners wore red bandanas around their necks to show solidarity, hence the term “redneck.” The kids wonder why there’s such rampant unemployment in Lee County, and Mr. Armstrong explains that the coal mining companies bought up all the land and let schools deteriorate because one didn’t need an education to be a miner. These companies designed communities like Lee County to feed workers to the mines, and when those mines closed and jobs were replaced by machines, there was nothing else for people to do but stay, undereducated and unemployed.

Demon wonders where his desire for more comes from—whether it is a product of his environment or something innate. By 2001, Demon is a freshman in high school and is on the football team. Demon is so good that the local paper features an article about him. Coach Winfield has become like a father to him.

After September 11, army recruiting in the area intensifies, but Demon figures, “It was hard to see how September 11 was my fight. As far as doing good for my fellow man, my better option was football” (283). In high school, Demon is again with Maggot and Emmy, but they have their own crowds and cliques. Demon is still a virgin, which he is upset about. However, his strongest feelings are for Mrs. Annie because he finds girls his own age annoying. A girl who has graduated high school, named Linda, starts calling Demon out of the blue after watching him in a game. She has phone sex with Demon, but she doesn’t propose to meet in person.

Demon often goes to the Peggots for dinner. He notes that they’ve grown much older, especially Mr. Peggot, who can barely get out of his chair. They’re worried about Maggot, whose goth style has gotten more intense. Mr. Peggot wonders if they’ve spoiled Maggot, and Demon tries to explain that Maggot’s style and ideas come from the kind of television that Mr. Peggot didn’t have growing up. Demon wishes Fast Forward were around to help Maggot.

Demon remains suspicious of U-Haul, who knows things about Demon like where he keeps his weed and the phone calls from Linda. U-Haul brings Demon to his mother’s house. U-Haul’s mother tells Demon that the McCobbs are back in the area and fishes for gossip about them. Linda’s younger sister tells Demon that Linda is married. Angus and Demon go to visit Betsy. Angus says she wants to go to college to study psychology or sociology, but Demon hasn’t thought about leaving Lee County.

Demon realizes that his life is now like a proper childhood, but he can’t be grateful for it because “growing up goes one direction only. You can’t stuff a baby back where he came from, and on from there” (297). Demon wants some independence; he still feels uncomfortable asking Coach Winfield for money. so Winfield helps Demon find a job at a Farm Supply. Demon enjoys his job, which is the easiest, cleanest, and safest work he has ever had. At work, Demon runs into Fast Forward, who has long since left Crickson’s farm and has a small tobacco plot of his own. Fast Forward takes Demon out, and Demon meets a lot of former Lee High students. He smokes weed with Fast Forward and his friends, all of whom recognize Demon from the football field.

Still hoping that Fast Forward can help Maggot, Demon invites him to the Peggots’ Fourth of July party. Fast Forward brings his girlfriend, Rose, and a girl nicknamed Mouse. At the party, Fast Forward meets Emmy and Maggot. Emmy and Hammer are officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Demon sees Mouse and Fast Forward lead a group of young people up to the abandoned cabin near June’s house. Demon takes a moment for himself in the woods, happy to be alive and sad for his dead parents. He then goes to find the others at the cabin and finds them passed out with needles on the floor. Fast Forward is back at the party, helping with the bonfire. Fast Forward decides it’s time to leave, and as they go, Mouse, who is from Philadelphia, makes fun of the partygoers’ ignorance.

Demon instantly falls in love with Dori, the daughter of the Farm Supply’s owner, when he meets her at a work party. She hasn’t been in school because she has been helping take care of her ailing father. Tenth grade begins and Demon and Maggot drift further apart. During football season, Demon sneaks out of the house after curfew to party with Fast Forward. He runs into Dori at a party; she knows Demon’s former social worker because DSS is constantly looking into her own home situation. Demon also reunites with Tommy, who has now aged out of foster care and is living with friends.

Fast Forward drunkenly calls Rose hideous to her face. Demon goes after her and apologizes for Fast Forward. She reveals that her mother adopted Fast Forward when he was nine years old, but he was such a danger to the family that she “unadopted” him. Fast Forward tried to get Rose’s brother to hang himself, and he gave Rose a permanent scar on her face. She also reveals that Fast Forward has been lying; he doesn’t own the farm but rather works it for a New York couple when they’re away.

Demon gets so drunk and high that he passes out on the stairs at Winfield’s house. Angus finds and helps him before he can get into trouble, especially with U-Haul, who has been officially promoted to assistant coach and is always at the house. Demon promises Angus to lay off the alcohol, and he never drinks tequila again.

Demon is injured by an opposing play during a football game. The doctor who visits him says he’ll need several tests done out-of-state, but the hospitals are booked for a couple of weeks. The doctor gives Demon Lortab, a pain medication made with an opioid, to help him manage his pain. Demon measures his week in his dosages of Lortab. He confesses to Angus that he’s worried that without football, Coach Winfield won’t want him around anymore. Aunt June comes to visit; she’s shocked that Demon is on Lortab and looks at his leg. She suggests more scans and tells him there’s no way he’ll play for the rest of the season. She argues with Coach Winfield about the Lortab, telling him it’s no better than oxy.

When Demon goes to the hospital for a surgery consultation, the doctor says he’ll need surgery and gives him a new prescription. Demon picks up the pills from the pharmacy and sees the label “OxyContin” stapled to the bag.

Demon tries to return to football in a limited capacity while reducing his use of pain medication. However, Demon experiences the horrible pain of withdrawal symptoms within hours of missing a dose, so he returns to taking oxy on a regular basis. The injury and attempted return to football make Demon even more popular at school. All the girls want to go to the homecoming dance with him, but he only wants to take Dori. Dori surprises him at home; she brings him chicks from the Farm Supply store to cheer him up.

Demon and Dori go to the homecoming dance. She steals one of her dad’s pain patches, made from Fentanyl, to melt and inject into her and Demon’s arms. They have sex for the first time while high. Demon implies that this is the first of many times Dori would inject Fentanyl.