Fourteen-year-old Hugh Rudd had his summer planned: mow lawns, practice baseball, buy a new mountain bike, and get ready for high school. But the Burlington Northern Railroad's determination to demolish the Hendershot Grocery Warehouse, a symbol of Hugh's small Texas home town, causes Hugh to re-examine his plans. As the locals gear up to stop the railroad, long-held secrets about both the town and Hugh's own family come to light, and Hugh is caught up in the conflict to save his home town, and his family’s legacy.

With an all-new introduction to the Baen Ebook Edition!

Clay Reynolds is the winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award.

"This is Reynolds’s fourth novel about the dusty, hot, and sleepy West Texas town of Agatite, a faded stewpot of roiling passions, savage gossip, and crooked politics. . . . This warm and entertaining story is solidly written and vividly atmospheric.  Reynolds spins a compelling yarn."—Publishers Weekly