Saturday afternoon I gathered the necessities for the backyard adventure; sleeping bag, flashlight, firecrackers, and just in case we got attacked by a pack of rabid dogs-a BB gun. In the spirited mind of a boy, Illinois back then was a wilderness. A rugged no man's land of wild beasts and unspeakable dangers. No place for a tenderfoot.
Meet Frank Nightlinger, an ordinary, middle-aged man who feels as if the world's best adventures have forever vanished.
The gloom begins to lift one night in the company of newfound friends. Between dusk and dawn where light and dark part company, Frank journeys back to the glory of his green years, back to those sun-drenched days of childhood all but forgotten, back to English Lake, Illinois, the way it was-will always be-in Frank's nostalgic imaginings. And back to the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance.
Recalling those timeless days of wonder, Frank pieces together a young boy's inviting world of make-believe. It's a small world of backyard adventures, flying hamsters, rotten kids, live nudes, and murder.
For more than thirty-five years Frank has hidden the melancholy truth behind the disappearance of English Lake's children. Now he's talking.
