Millie is at another of Honeywell High School’s boring football games. The football coach, “Hollerin’ Hank” Kildare, was screaming so loud that his neck veins stood out and spittle flew at the unfortunate quarterback of the Honeywell Stingers. When Millie’s father, the assistant coach, tried to step in, Kildare almost punched him. This guy’s a nut job, Millie thinks, idling doodling a picture of Hollerin’ Hank with a knife in his chest. Then she amused herself by making a list of the people who’d like to see him dead.
Of course her dad was on the list.
One year later, Millie herself discovers the dead body of Hollerin’ Hank Kildare. She thinks back to her list. She remembers her dad’s name on that list. Millie vows that she will track down the killer herself, if only to keep her dad clear of suspicion.
In a more traditional interpretation of the phrase “buzz kill,” Luke Bryan sings about the follies of falling for a gorgeous but obviously superficial kind of girl in combination with beer that really should have been poured out.
-Diane Colson, currently reading The Riverman by Aaron Starmer