The Boy Summary

A boy named Richard Allen Mesington is born. The year is 1979. He is a sickly, quiet infant, and given to ear infections. He was born in Colorado, where his father was a construction worker, but the family eventually moved to Missouri, where he resides in the present day of the novel (1993) as a fourteen-year-old boy.

As a young boy growing up in Colorado, Richard's constant companion is a border collie named Sissy. Sissy is initially jealous of the attention the parents give to this new "intruder," and she tolerates him as he tugs on her ears and fur. Richard grows up adventuring around the local woods, trying to sniff out scents like his best friend Sissy.

Sissy grows to love the boy very much, and follows him everywhere. Together they venture far from the house on outdoors adventures, causing Richard's mother...