Jeff Egerton

The Boxcar Blues Jeff Egerton

Two homeless boys, one black and one white, depend on each other as they are pursued by a racist deputy in the lawlessness of the early 1930s. Relying on their road smarts and tempered-steel toughness, they survive a near hanging, a phony murder charge and tragic lost love in the depths of the Great Depression. In spite of all their problems the boys persevere. You have to read this to find out how Luke and Curly rise from vagrants to become bush pilots, war heroes and eventually owners of a prosperous airline. Then, when they think their bad times are behind them, an old nemesis shows up; he's bent on revenge. The fabulous ending typifies the shrewd resourcefulness of two men who've been hardened by life's brutality and excel at survival.