Mad Dad, Fun Dad

From an early age, Ben Baker knows that "when dad is mad, someone is going to get hurt." He sees it when his father bashes his mother in the head with a shotgun and experiences it through frequent beatings with brooms, rakes or whatever tool is handy. The physical pain is matched by the emotional damage of his father repeatedly calling him "the stupidest and laziest boy in the world." This mistreatment takes place while working on the family farm and at his father's service station in a small town located on the foothills of Utah's Wasatch Mountains. As the smallest boy in his class, Ben also faces abuse at school because bullies find him to be an easy target for punches, kicks and insults. He deals with the cruelty by keeping his back to the wall and doing whatever he can to dodge the bullies. His run-and-hide approach changes when an ex-convict, Derek Dean, takes a job pumping gas at his father's service station. Derek teaches Ben how to deliver the pain instead of...