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Tom T. Shiftlet

A tramp and a carpenter, as well as a conman. Shiftlet is a man who likes to hear himself talk and uses his loquaciousness to get people to do what he wants. He is an unhappy character, even when he succeeds in his aims, and he purports the world to be a rotten place. He has lost one of his arms and claims to have been a soldier.

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The Old Woman (Lucynell Crater)

An elderly widow and mother of a disabled adult daughter who shares her given name. The old woman is shrewd but needy. Desperate for someone to help her take care of her daughter, she believes she is manipulating Shiftlet while failing to understand that he is also manipulating her.

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 The Old Woman’s Daughter (Lucynell Crater)

An intellectually disabled adult and daughter of her namesake, the old woman. Lucynell is deaf and does not speak, save for the single word Shiftlet teaches her to say. She has long, pink-blond hair, peacock blue eyes, and a sweet and simple nature.

Hitchhiking Boy (“the boy”)

A young boy Shiftlet picks up on the side of the road. The boy’s youth and cardboard suitcase indicate that he has run away from home. His taciturn nature unsettles Shiftlet, and he becomes animated only in his vehement rejection of Shiftlet’s reverent philosophy about mothers.

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