Is it possible? Can a seven-year-old boy keep a life-time promise? Homer Ray Blackey's promise stays fresh in his mind as he keeps watch over his younger cousin, Gloria Jean Blackey.
Like alabaster arrows, lightning stabs through the clouds delivering a violent storm that chases the children out of the creek. Six-year-old Gloria Jean Blackey's eyes squint through the pelting rain. "That barn! Take me to that barn." Homer Ray shivers, and not just from being rain-soaked. Fear claws up his back.
How can he protect her from the evil that threatens to destroy her, the painful loss that threatens to smother her? Can he embrace the fun she experiences in her barn or the love she discovers in the shelter of her wooden fortress? Will he fulfill his promise?