Zakary James is an African-American teenager who ran away from his father’s farm just as World War II was breaking out and now lives in a city, alternately staying in a church, the Lucky Linda Cafe, and out in the streets. Zakary has a history with a group of boys who engage in petty theft, and after a robbery at the cafe, he narrowly avoids being sent to a reformatory. The couple who run the cafe, Ma Susie and Mr. Jackson, allow Zakary to pay off the debt he owes them due to the incident by painting a mural of outer space on an exterior wall of the cafe. Mr. Jackson is perpetually suspicious of Zakary, but Ma Susie has faith in the boy’s good nature. Zakary spends his days at the cafe drawing and scoping out the customers. One day, a sailor in the navy who is around Zakary’s age sits down across from him and introduces himself as Jim Nicholson. Zakary notes that he is white, which is an uncommon sight given the predominantly black clientele of the cafe. They discuss the solar system that Zakary is drawing; Jim asks Zakary if he is planning on enlisting. Zakary confides his intention to join the Navy, but Jim advises against it. Zakary finds this disheartening, and remembers a time when his father told him that it is not his duty to fight in an army where he would be segregated from the white soldiers. As Jim leaves, a few of the boys who had previously robbed the cafe assault it yet again. Zakary is handed a stolen purse and told to meet up with them that night to distribute the stolen money. Zakary escapes the scene and rendezvouses with the group as planned, but he refuses his share of the stolen money and instead encourages the leader of the group, Ezekiel, to go to his father’s farm and seek employment as a farmhand. Returning to the cafe, Zakary finds Mr. Jackson outside on a bench, brandishing a bat. Mr. Jackson, angry and defeated, questions why the boy would return to the scene of his crime. Zakary eyes his mural and responds, “I left things here.”