National Network for Equitable Library Service

The car lurches to a halt.The old man finally rolls down his window, studies Laker for one eternal moment while his daughter, behind the steering wheel, fumes and listens to the radio. Laker stands, shrunken and zipped and snapped and collared inside his damp, sweaty leather jacket, and then he hears this unexpected question: Do you do yard work? Kicked out of his house, sleeping on the street, Laker Wyatt meets eighty-three-year-old Henry Olsen, a lonely widower with family troubles of his own -- a bossy daughter and a beautiful granddaughter, Charlene, with whom Henry admits he doesn't always get things right. Eventually, Laker's stay with Henry leads him not only to the revelation of a long-kept secret, but to a deeper understanding of the mysteries and difficulties of love.