Book excerpt: Back then you played hardTill The Streetlights Came On. It was a time when chores were plentiful and toys were simple; when bad attitudes weren't treated with a prescription—you just beat the kid good. Video games and shopping malls didn't exist, and hands got dirty in backyards and vacant lots. Such was the life of Stevie, a boy addicted to play. Whether being burned at the stake as a cowboy or escaping a Nazi POW camp, Stevie's life is one adventure after another—often comical, but always filled with spiritual consequence. Or at least that's the way his guardian, Uncle Harry, sees it. Whether facing the 'green mile' to pick out his own switch, being consigned to dreaded 'miscellaneous chores,' or obediently struggling to follow the complexities of how questioning the intelligence (or lack there of) of cats relates to the reality of God, Stevie knows he can always rely on Uncle Harry to provide answers—whether he can understand them or not—and look after his immortal soul. Capturing the waywardness of youth, and all the hilarity inherent in young boys and their crackbrained schemes, author Stephen Langdon's stories will keep you reading till the streetlights come on.