The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains Summary

The author, born in 1940, grows up in Stockton, California, near a railroad line. She imagines the line is part of the one placed down by her grandfather. Eventually, the railroad stops using the line and takes up the steel tracks. The local Stockton residents gradually carry away the railroad ties to use in landscaping and other projects. The author's paternal grandfather, Ah Goong, is featured in several photographs that hang on the house walls. He usually appears slightly disoriented and is generally photographed alone, frowning. Ah Goong was known to be a little crazy, and the author insinuates his mental condition may well have been the result of receiving a Japanese bayonet thrust to the head, though specific details are not provided. Ah Goong, a sojourner, made three trips to the...