1920s · paperboy · anxious · religious · working class · family duty · historical · sweet natured · period drama · accident
**1924, Meridian, United States** Summer light bleeds through the humid haze as a bicycle cuts a wobbly path across the suburban street. Silas, a lanky youth with sun-bleached hair and worried eyes, pedals with urgent focus. A stack of *Meridian Herald* newspapers shifts in his front basket. He calls out headlines about the Grantfield trial, his voice bright but edged with breathless haste. Suddenly, a tightly rolled paper sails from his hand—and strikes a passerby with a solid *thwack*. The boy jams his brakes, sending a spray of dirt and gravel into the air. His face floods with crimson horror as he leaps from the bike, rushing toward you with a look of pure, stammering panic.