Runaways come in all sizes, shapes and ages. Some are people who are tired of the humdrum life in which they find themselves, so they run away to places of imagined excitement. Others run away because they find themselves in trouble with family members or the local police force or school officials. Still others run away for reasons totally unknown to them or anyone who knows them. There just seems to be something within them that causes them to pack their clothes in some kind of bag and then strike out on foot or bicycle or in a car, for places unknown.

Lee Edwards was an eighteen year old boy raised on a Midwest farm. His life was rather normal for a farm kid: farm work, school work, community activities, ball games, girl friends and the hope that someday to have a more rewarding life, perhaps away from the farm. Lee may have run away for any one of these reasons or for none of them at all. He could think of at least a dozen reasons - or none at all, as to why he left home and "headed east."

Runaway life is hard. Food is often scarce or non-existent, places to sleep are difficult or impossible to find and not everyone can be trusted to have your best interest in mind. Survival skills need to be discovered, honed and sharpened in order to stay alive, whether hitchhiking on the highway or walking the streets and alleys of the big cities. Work is illusive and not readily available for a runaway kid with no work skills except farming.
There were times when Lee wished he had made a better choice, but those times passed quickly for he had no desire or reason to return to the place of his birth. As years came and went, so did his memory of his family, his home, the people in his town and his high school sweetheart.

Time has a way of helping a person grow up and, hopefully, become more mature. Lee did grow up and, in many ways, became more mature. In the process he learned a very lucrative business and became somewhat successful in his work and with his investments. He felt that he had accomplished what a local business man "back home" had told him. "Lee, why don't you make something of yourself? Be successful and make your folks proud of you." He was successful and, as to his folks, they wouldn't know if he were dead or alive. He had not been in touch with them in twenty five years.

Then it happened! He couldn't keep running any longer. He knew he had to return to Pryor and to whatever waited for him there.

What awaited him was a twenty five year old crippled man who would impact his life in a way that would change him forever.