Part 1: Chapters 1, 2, and 3 Summary

A lightning rod salesman named Tom Fury enters Green Town, Illinois, on a cloudy October day. A great lightning storm is in the distance, approaching the town. Tom comes upon Jim and Will, lounging outside on the grass. They proudly tell the story of how they were born not only one day apart but also two minutes apart. Will was born one minute before midnight on October 30, while Jim came into the world a minute after midnight, on Halloween.

Looking for a sale, the salesman keeps asking the two boys if they have any money. When they answer negatively, he ends up giving them a lightning rod anyway. It is very heavy, with all kinds of exotic and strange Egyptian, Arabic, Abyssinian, and other kinds of writing and pictures on it.

The salesman asserts that the storm coming "is...