Vernon Gregory Little ("Vern")

The 15-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel, Vernon self-deprecatingly describes himself as the puppy dog featured. He lives alone with his mother on the northern edge of Martirio, TX, regularly twists a psycho-knife in his back about getting a proper hair cut, finding a job, and above all, the state of his bowels, because Vernon has suffered irregularity since childhood. Vernon's father has disappeared, but he remembers him vaguely, wishing he were more like the actor Brian Dennehy. When Dad disappears, Mom insists Vernon get Dad's rifle out of the house fast, and he hides it in the abandoned mine at Keeter's Field that he and best friend Jesus Navarro call the den. The key to the den's padlock and other secrets, including drugs he is holding for beautiful Taylor Figueroa, are hidden in a Nike shoebox in Vernon's closet. Vernon seems...