The Fool Killer plot
"All the secret joys, the sudden terrors of being young and free and far from home"
In the days after the American Civil War, twelve-year-old orphan George Mellish runs away from stepparents who mistreat him over the smallest things. While roaming the banks of the Mississippi, he meets old Dirty Jim Helliman, an old notorious pervert, who lets the boy live with him for a while. The two get along and Jim tells George the legend about the 'Fool Killer', a mythical killer who uses a sickle to kill people who have done some real stupidity. When George is once again on the run from people who want to return him to his stepparents, he meets Milo Bogardus, a confused, unstable war veteran and enthusiastically tells the story of the 'Fool Killer'.