For a 16-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every days an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor; every day teaches him something more about friendship, or hunger, or profanity, or lustalways lust. He learns how a poker game, or hitching a ride, can turn deadly. He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely farm in the middle of nowhere. Then he joins up with a carnival and becomes a grunt, running a ride and shilling for the geek show. Hes living the hard carny life and beginning to see the world through carny eyes. Hes tough. Cynical. By the end of the summer hes pretty sure he knows it all. Until he meets Ruby.From the Paperback edition.