My hometown of Lawler, Iowa in the 1950s featured much character. And many characters. In general, through the years there have been about 500 people who live there. I will tell you about one of them. His real name was Francis. We called him Hoot. I don’t remember why. Everybody I knew had a nickname. Someone called him that once and it stuck. ...

I’m tired after having worked all day, it's some hours past midnight, and my phone goes off.  Another one. My wife is sound asleep and I do my best not to wake her as I get dressed and gather my equipment.  I drive to a wealthy suburb, to an elderly housing complex, to an apartment in the ghetto, a quarter mile into the woods, under a bridge, ...