Introverted, socially awkward Jay Kirkman, known to his Grams as “Jay Bird,” is riding the ups-and-downs of youth while living with overbearing parents and dealing with the pressures of being a senior in high school. A month away from graduation, Jay hopes to flee the small upstate New York town of Milton for a life anywhere but in his dead-end hometown. He wishes for more than he has now: scholarly, eccentric parents, and watching Grams, the closest person to him, slowly dying before his eyes. His equally withdrawn but edgier best friend Rocco has a hearty appetite for drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex. When the law comes knocking, asking questions about a crime Rocco may or may not have committed, he finds himself in big trouble and turns to Jay for help. Is Jay and Rocco’s friendship strong enough to sustain life’s tough obstacles as they navigate the highs and lows of growing up together?

Jay Bird

“After being threatened by Dean’s biker friends, I want to hide.”


“Wait a minute. What do you mean they threatened you? When? What did they do?”


“They stopped me as I was walking the back road, and a bald man with a beard told me he’d kill me if I kept his buddies waiting. He mimicked a handgun with his fingers and aimed it at my head. They were really pissed off that Dean had to stay behind and wait for me to close the diner.”


It was eight o’ clock the next morning when I met Rocco on Thompson Street next to the middle school building and Milton Police Station.


I rounded the corner of Bridge and Genesee Street and my heart suddenly started thumping like a malfunctioning airplane propeller. Rocco was waiting at a stop sign at the end of the street. He looked nervous, kicking stones and plucking blades of grass.


“Thanks for coming,” he said, standing and brushing dirt and grass from his hands.


Chapter 20