It begins during the early spring of 1940 when two brothers from New York City, who after being charged with a crime that they didn't commit headed south taking nothing with them except their yankee accents. While hitchhiking near the city of Centerville, North Carolina, One the brothers, was struck by an eighteen wheeler. That brother, who was fourteen, spent the next three months in a Centerville hospital. While there, except for claiming to be Walter Mullins, the young patient steadfastly refused to divulge any additional details regarding his identity? Although Walter's badly damaged right arm still needed outpatient care, the day arrived when he was well enough to be released from the hospital. Released to whom? Reluctant to turn their lovable penniless ward over to the legal system, the hospital negotiated an alternate solution. About this same time another fourteen year old male patient, who's family lacked the means to pay their son's medical bill, was also due to be released. Vance Knight's family was so thankful for their son's free appendectomy that when young Vance left the hospital Walter Mullins came home with him. It turned out that Walter's pseudo adopters and advocates included many of the Knight's neighbors on Railroad Street and beyond. Extensive behind the scenes efforts aimed at clearing the way for the wayward brothers to reclaim their normal lives soon reached as far as New York. Progress was being made. However, two critical deadlines were rapidly approaching. Walter no long needs outpatient care and/or he attempts to enroll in public school. Either is likely to become the signal for both brothers to move on. Surprisingly, neither deadline generated its anticipated response; setting the stage for the novel's dramatic ending that will revive the reader's faith in justice, love and miracles.
