The year was about 1951 or so and the town was Newkirk, Oklahoma. Back in those days my visits to the farm and back home came by train. My mom lived in Wichita, Kansas but would send me each summer to the farm located about ten miles West and a bit North of Newkirk.

My aunt had just purchased my ticket for me to go home. She left me there to wait on the train, a seven year old boy. This was no big deal back then. Newkirk was and is a sleepy farm town where a person can walk the streets at night and people do not necessarily lock their doors.

Being a boy and waiting for a train, I decided to walk along the tracks and toss some rocks. I saw another boy wearing coveralls walking towards me. We both talked, and both tossed some small gravel rocks. We were just two boys, having fun on a summer’s day.

I heard the whistle of my train. The sun was shining down upon us. The gentle summer breeze caressed us as the two boys played in God’s playhouse. God was teaching me a lesson that day. The boy was black. The first black person I have ever had contact with. I thought nothing about it and I believe he felt the same. We were two of God’s children playing, talking and communing.

B. J. Cassady Guthrie, Oklahoma BJ.Cassady@af-group.com