exactly between the wide-eyed times when fairy tales are embraced as truth and the darker, later years when cynicism starts to take its toll. The other players in this small sideshow are Granma, a hardworking, underpaid Golden Ager who worries that she may be a little too old for the challenge of raising a granddaughter, and Trout, Agnes's best friend. Trout was named after one of her father's biggest passions and, according to her, she was only three numbers from being christened Powerball. Trout tries to temper Agnes's stigmatism of hope with her own doctrine of realism. Together they weather the major tribulations that only childhood can make so monumental. Trout aspires to pilot a soft-serve ice cream machine so all the kids will laugh and yell "Hey, Ice Cream Lady!" Agnes merely wants to be crowned lord queen of the unknown universe. They will probably end up on different bowling leagues.

Hide more