Hidalgo

by Danny Dunne

                  Stories about a boy growing up in the small town of Hidalgo, Illinois (Pop.100) who has a runaway pony and a tendency to sleepwalk. He struggles with the Boy Scouts and flunks Tenderfoot (three years of Cub Scouting down the drain).He finds that high school is not "The Wonder Years" He skips college ("Just another four years of homework."). He gets in the wrong line for an interview and winds up in banking, a life sentence. He tries, not too successfully, to pass himself off as an adult. As he gets older, he adds sleep eating to his sleepwalking. His wife has to hide all the snacks before they go to bed.In his sleepwalking episodes he dreams about returning to Hidalgo, where he often finds his pony Jiggs making tracks for Mustang Country. His five year self takes time out to yell "Come back, Shane!" while smoking Marlboros.In one story he actually journeys to Hidalgo, but tries to keep a "Low Profile". This turns out to be fairly easy, as nobody seems to know him. He hears Rod Serling's voice "This is a story about a man looking for himself in the little town where he spent his boyhood. Will he be welcomed? Will he be hailed as a conquering hero? Or has he just entered The Twilight Zone?"Read Hidalgo to learn if the author ever saw Kansas again

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2010