This is a story about a country boy, born into poverty in a community where almost every male of age worked in the coal mines, The author's older brothers and father, almost all of his uncles and cousins, and non-relatives in the community, nearly all worked in the coal mines. The author, at a very young age, vowed to himself that he would never go to work in the coal mines. Where education was not rated very highly, since none was needed to work underground in the dirty, dangerous mines. As this was quite a difficult vow at this place and in that time, it proved to be a real struggle to escape the environment and the culture of the neighborhood. How he managed to do this proved to be a struggle and a precarious journey for a shy country boy.