Coming of Age

The summer that the cows get hoof-and-mouth disease, Lonnie is no longer truly a child, yet not quite a man yet. He is finished with high school, but he has no plans for the future. Mainly he just wants to get out of the slow-moving, sleepy community around Thalia, feeling that he has never experienced the world outside of a ranch. "The old cows bawling in the horse pasture kept me awake till nearly morning, and I lay in bed with my eyes open, thinking about all the girls in Thalia, and those in Oklahoma City I didn't know, all of them with nightgowns on, asleep somewhere and breathing in the night" (Chapter 4, p. 58).

It is interesting that Lonnie is so inexperienced about life, since he has already faced many adult issues. Lonnie does not see this as a process of growing up, however, equating adulthood...