title: Altered Parts
author: Field, Ryan
description: Have you ever wondered what it might have been like for two young men who fell in love in 1940? Well that's exactly what happened to young Joe Buddy Barnes and a cowboy drifter named Clay Totten. Even though he's great at running his family's general store and fixing machines, Joe Buddy can't seem to figure out how to fix his own life. The fact that he lives way up on remote Buddy's Mountain in Western North Carolina, with two spinster aunts, doesn't help his situation either. Although his aunts devoted their lives to him, one aunt never got over a long lost love and the other was born a man who always identified as a woman. Then one hot summer afternoon in 1940 everything changes. While Joe Buddy is swimming in the creek he accidentally meets a tall, dark cowboy from Wyoming named Clay. He's a drifter who is only passing through North Carolina on his way to Florida, where he plans to enlist in the military. There's an instant connection, and Joe Buddy winds up bringing Clay home for supper that night because he feels sorry for him. However, Joe Buddy suspects there's more to Clay's story than he's telling, and he persuades Clay to stick around long enough to find out. As each event unfolds, these two young men move forward in ways that neither one of them ever expected. And as World War II lurks in the not so far off distance, there are some interesting changes coming to Buddy's Mountain you won’t want to miss.