This hilarious send-up of outlandish Southern characters includes a beautician, a luncheonette waitress, a radio evangelist, the widow of a gas and oil distributror and the residents of a fictional mobile home park in Arkansas as they find uproarious ways to enjoy life, needle each other, and remember the dear-departed. 

“Having traveled on the same People to People Ambassador journey to China with Julie, I have seen Julie's anthology from inception to fruition. It is a masterful, engaging, informative and scholarly addition to our understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture, particularly storytelling and folk traditions, from ancient days to today. Practicing storytellers will especially appreciate her tips for telling and context clues at the end of each story.”
                --Judith Heineman, storyteller, producer and Illinois Humanities Road Scholar

Set in the days of small, local banks when embarrassing entrepreneurs were the one family in town who bought a new car every year—those cars everyone else called ‘gunboats—and the bad guys came with black hats, this rollicking send-up of stupid criminals who even Barnie Fife could have outwitted makes for belly-laughs while reading and memories that will bring smiles to readers’ faces. 

A teen’s life is complicated.  Add an overworked dad, a distraught mom.
Enter an old man from the wrong side of the tracks.
He knows things.  He’s there when you need him.
 
This happens to someone; it’s not a maybe thing.  People get hurt.  People die.  There’s a dad who loves his kid but works all the time.  When he doesn’t work, he drinks.  When he drinks he’s out of control.

There’s a mom.  She knows dad is overworked, a good man carrying too much responsibility. 

The kid turns to the handy man to learn a man’s skills.  In the old man from the wrong side of the tracks, the kid finds unusual skills and terrible—but true—lessons.  He finds that his own safety comes at a cost to his unfortunate friend.  He finds growing up comes at a cost to himself.  This is the story of such a kid, told by himself after he has lived much of his life, come to terms with his parents’ weaknesses, and learned that seemingly insignificant people carry more pain than he can imagine, though he has already seen plenty.

“Set in Arkansas during World War II, Hout’s touching story of an orphaned boy's relationship with the inhabitant of a small town's "haunted house” will keep you guessing, right up to the satisfying ending.  Another endearing novel from Judson Hout."

--Cindy Ward, Dallas, Texas