After his retirement, Henry Johnson drives the back roads of America and stirs up benign mischief along the way-all in the attempt to help an unsuspecting stranger in need of a fresh deal from life's deck-of-cards. With his truck, Maggie, full of essentials and not-so-essentials, Henry stops in the podunk town of Karchner, Nebraska, little more than a bend in Highway 26. While eating breakfast at Nelda's Cafe, he jests with its spit-and-vinegar proprietor, Mabel, and obtains the name of a family who might need his help. In fact, Titus and Beatrice Smithing are just the sort of people he's been hankering to meet. Henry trundles out to the Smithing spread and finds the ornery, down-on-his-luck black rancher less than receptive. With his "whatever" charm, Henry entrenches himself in the Smithings' lives, shares their sorrows and fears, earns their friendship, and transforms their future with humor and hard work. "The Cottonwoods of Titus Smithing" is an uplifting, crusty, literary tale bound to cause knee-slapping and eye-dabbing