An eight-year-old boy who constantly monitors his parents and worries about their well-being. He struggles to decipher the indirect, quiet communication of his family and longs to understand the wider adult world. Highly allergic to cat hair and anxious about physical illness, he retreats to his closet when frightened but desires a mentor who can teach him how to move through life without fear.

A physically imposing factory worker who brainstorms impractical moneymaking schemes to support his growing family. He bears a mangled fingernail from factory machinery, a detail that deeply unnerves his son. Despite his size, he lacks practical automotive skills and prefers to arrange reality in his mind rather than face practical obstacles.

A beautiful, pregnant woman who recently survived a burst appendix and a previous stillborn child. She possesses a hard-surfaced yet fragile demeanor and communicates with her husband through a code that excludes their son. Skeptical of her husband's service station idea at first, she carries a profound sense of self-sufficiency and concerns herself with maintaining social propriety.

A teenage runaway who brings a bold, profane energy into the quiet household. She dresses in disheveled clothes but quickly proves herself to be a highly competent mechanic in the station pit. She speaks her mind bluntly and loudly, completely unconcerned with social niceties, which deeply shocks the parents while captivating the boy.

An acquaintance from the local Legion whom the father hires out of convenience. He struggles with alcoholism and frequently sleeps on the job rather than serving customers or fixing cars. His complete lack of utility frustrates the other workers and confirms the boy's worst fears about adult incompetence.

The local physician who tends to the family's medical emergencies with questionable competence. He previously misdiagnosed the mother's burst appendix and offers wavering, unhelpful advice regarding the teenage runaway's condition, cementing the boy's skepticism of adult authority figures.

The boy's older brother who was stillborn. Rather than a mere memory of grief, he functions as an imaginary presence for the boy, who envisions him as a capable, hard-working figure who would easily manage the station's foul toilets and exhaust fumes.

The wife of Ed Walsh who must track down her unreliable husband. She interacts with the family from a distance, attempting to manage the fallout of Ed's continued irresponsibility.