by Ellen Day (Author)

When Hector Hawthorne, a polite man in his mid-thirties, introduces his invisible friend, Barney the cow, to his family, they don't know what to make of it. When they begin to worry, Hector decides to see Dr. Toofargawn, the town psychiatrist, but Hector's mother is no model of stability, either, and Hector's socially awkward, mean-spirited two sisters, Bonnie and Molly, are enveloped in phobias. Even Dr. Toofargawn manifests abnormalities, and he begins to depend on mild-mannered Hector to bail him out. In the end, when Hector's family and his doctor start to see and talk to Barney, Hector ultimately realizes that the only sensible, stable people in his life are Barney and himself.