Ben Fry

Toys of Desperation Ben Fry

It's the summer of 1973 in Weir, Arkansas. Billy Williams can't watch his favorite TV shows because of those darn Watergate hearings, so the eleven-year-old spends a lot of time riding his bike with a big banana seat, not the fancy ten-speed kind. His mother can't afford a ten-speed. You see, money has been tight since his father died, when Billy was just four.

One day, when Billy is on the other side of town, walking through a burned-down house, he thinks he hears the voice of his dead father arguing with somebody, and then gun shots. Why is he hearing voices and gun shots? Has he gone crazy? Was his father connected to the house? Did his father kill someone? Billy makes friends with Mabel Ann, a girl most of his friends think is weird. Mabel Ann, you see, hears voices, too. The two unlikely friends begin a search to learn more about Billy's father and the voices.