This unshy individual thus handily obtained the distinction of becoming Harry’s first and only friend. It’s not entirely arbitrary. Like Harry, his pal’s a very, very only child. Loudermilk has, at this point, but one parent, and back at Oswego he talked about this impressive person a lot. Loudermilk the Elder is, as the myth goes, known to his face as Pops and, more frequently, as well as behind his back, as The Cleaner. He’s an ex-military man who made good in the late 1960s and early ’70s providing infrastructural triage in locales the United States had not explicitly invaded but, you know. As his business diversified, The Cleaner found it convenient to return to the States, where he headquartered himself first in Delaware, then in the wilds of Upstate New York. His retreat to the outskirts of Ithaca when Loudermilk Jr. had attained the age of four was precipitated by the desertion of the boy’s mother, a member of the Israeli secret service who (Loudermilk implies) had satisfied herself and her superiors as to The Cleaner’s general corruption but lack of any real influence or intel. She decamped, leaving a brief note to the effect that it would be preferable if her son might one day learn basic hand-to-hand fighting skills as well as the use and care of a semiautomatic weapon but that the role of mother was not one she was inclined to pursue. The Cleaner, realizing at once his single-parent status and his son’s previously unknown Jewishness, went into a tailspin that was only somewhat alleviated by the impulse purchase of a 150-acre ranch encompassing three lakes, a decrepit agricultural enterprise, and one small gorge. He packed his offspring up, delegated judiciously, and entered early semiretirement, a state that did not, however, prevent him from becoming alarmingly wealthy during Bill Clinton’s second term.