Hire Jameson, a servant living in rural Illinois in the 1880s, expected to work for the prosperous Hicks family his entire life, but Fate had other plans. In this coming of age tale, an elderly Hire Jameson describes the sometimes sinister adventures of his youth, when he first confronted the evils of the world. Dogged by disaster at every turn, the small boy discovers that even the simple pleasures of growing up can mask unfathomable horrors. The line between reality and fantasy blurs as Hire faces death and the possible existence of both ghosts and monsters - from this world and the next....