DOUGH, RAY AND ME

There's a developing sense of values, of character and of human relationships in this account of a family that followed a slightly crazy impulse and wound up rooting for a small New Mexican village. A sinus cure in Arizona led Ray Kilmer to become a baker's helper and he returned to Pat and the children in Detroit anxious to leave his job as tool engineer and set up his own bake shop in the West. En route they pick up equipment and find themselves agreeing to start their enterprise in Cabeza, N. M., due to their car's collapse. After they make arrangements to stay they learn there are no utilities (frantic attempts to change their order to a wood burning stove); they have no money to furnish their shop-home (a furniture shower takes care of that); and, in business, they work out an interlocking cash-trade-barter system. But in spite of all the good things, a return to Detroit is indicated and they work many new angles to build up their getaway fund -- which at the very last minute turns into a stay-here poke. And then they really work at retrieving the failure (of their own making) for the success they know can be theirs. Lots of ""big heart"" incidents, enveloping helpfulness, friendliness and hospitality; the deepening and widening of their own appreciation of the place and the people, as their boners are overlooked and their efforts are encouraged;- this is a pleasant reflection of decency, small community cooperation and integrity of intangibles outweighing tangibles.