This is a story of an eleven-year-old white boy growing up in the segregation era of the 1950's. Following an offensive incident with a black lady, his mother required him to spend his summer vacation working for the lady that he had offended. Each day his mother would send him across the railroad tracks that separated the black neighborhood from his own. The lessons he learned from this experience prepared him to deal with the everyday challenges that he would confront throughout his life.