Abstract:
Jake Knowland returns to his hometown in Indiana to be pallbearer at the funeral of his lifelong friend, Cage. He meets Cage’s son, Brandon, and takes him to see Jake’s family farm just across the border in Michigan, where he and Cage played as children. Along the way, Brandon talks about what’s going on in his life, and Jake realizes how sheltered his own catholic school upbringing in the 1950’s was compared to what today’s teens encounter. Jake’s childhood seems like the “dark ages” to Brandon, who hears daily on the news and in school what was kept secret from Jake and Cage.