sentences:  Section 1 describes Williams' experiences in grade school and on a vacation to his grandfather's farm in Dawes City, Iowa, a depressed town built by Williams' once-prosperous and now ruined ancestors, which, though dead, are still ruined.In school, Dawes takes interest mostly in disorderly behavior; he idolizes and befriends the profane and often obnoxious Ronnie Crown, and to some extent emulates Crown's rebelliousness.In one climactic moment, Dawes, Crown, and a friend exact revenge on a Cedar Rapids neighbor by blowing up her garage with a stick of dynamite.