This story tells the journey of a 12 year old young man by the name of Thomas. The setting of the story is after World War II which makes it historical fiction and Thomas is traveling to Vienna to fins his aunt. In the process of trying to find his aunt, he loses his mother while trying to escape the Russian Invasion. All alone in Vienna, he stumbles across a man name Crutches, a former German soldier who received his name from losing his leg. Thomas and Crutches take off to Germany where they stay for about a year. Thomas eventually finds his mother and he leaves Crutches. The bond and security that Thomas put in Crutches was amazing and it made Thomas promise that he would come back to see Crutches.