Old Money

School had just ended in the summer of 1956. It was what everyone had been waiting for. No more homework, no more sitting in a hot classroom daydreaming about what they were going to do when that final bell rang. It was a time of innocence; construction on the new highway system was underway and just about everyone was getting their first television set. For Jackie Malone and Tommy Redden, it would more than likely be the last summer to hang out at the creek, go swimming and fishing or do all the other things teenagers did. The next summer vacation would be spent working—after all, that’s what the older boys did. What they didn’t know when they walked the two blocks from the school bus stop was that this summer would change their lives forever. What they would discover would be beyond their wildest dreams but would end up testing their character as well as their will to survive.