It gives him something to do while other boys his age are playing sports, talking sports, or pursuing their first sexual experiences. Joon doesn’t have any real friends. Doesn’t have any real talents. Doesn’t have a chance in hell of ever having sex with anyone but himself. He works every weekday from 3:30 to 6:00. And until he gets his driver’s license—which could be quite a while, given that he still hasn’t passed the test for his temporary—he will continue to have the school bus drop him off. No, it isn’t easy being a Faldstool. First, the Faldstools are short—no Faldstool male has ever topped five-four. Secondly, the Faldstools are not very bright—no Faldstool male has ever possessed the capacity for anything but the most mundane and monotonous work. Remarkably, in the three centuries since the first Faldstool arrived in the New World from England as an indentured servant, no Faldstool male has been able to elevate the family’s physical, mental or economic stature by breeding with a woman of superior strain.
