The summer of 1981 was a pivotal time for our narrator. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman II were in the local movie theater. He was beginning to develop opinions about the music coming out of his parents’ car radio. He was even allowed to stay up late on Friday nights to watch the Chiller Theatre show. But most importantly, a brand new Pac-Man arcade game had been installed in a dusty corner of his neighborhood convenience store. The only problem was that the corner store was run by a bad-tempered, one-armed drunk who terrified all the neighborhood kids.