The Boy who Guarded the Crazy House

George, an eleven-year-old boy and almost a nighty bed wetter, is more concerned about making it to adulthood than waking up in a dry bed. He doesn't want much out of life, only to be like his adult cousin, a US Navy enlisted man who smokes and blows fat smoke rings. George wants to grow up to do both things.  His older brother says aloud that George will most likely end up in an insane asylum due to his bed-wetting. 

Eventually, George's mother stops beating him after her husband warns her she could go to prison for battering their third son.   George's father, an alcoholic and a medical doctor, dies from a fall from a ladder, for which George is responsible.