Robert Greenway is Crane's favorite hero. In this book he matures from a five-year-old disappointed in his father's ethics to a forty-five-year-old owner of a British inn, The Young Black Horse, in which he is "expected" to stage an annual pigeon race for his "regulars." These stories, some poignant, most hilarious, demonstrate that all of us undergo the same tests in becoming adults--disillusionment, loss of innocence, and summer jobs--learning that the world we are entering is different from the one we expected. Greenway's biggest test comes at 16 when he completely fails at operating a...

Robert Greenway is Crane's favorite hero. In this book he matures from a five-year-old disappointed in his father's ethics to a forty-five-year-old owner of a British inn, The Young Black Horse, in which he is "expected" to stage an annual pigeon race for his "regulars." These stories, some poignant, most hilarious, demonstrate that all of us undergo the same tests in becoming adults--disillusionment, loss of innocence, and summer jobs--learning that the world we are entering is different from the one we expected. Greenway's biggest test comes at 16 when he completely fails at operating a...