Thicker than Blood: The Bond Between a Community Every individual desires to be placed in a group that satisfies one of their personal yearnings, whether it be baseball or familial ties, though often it is the community that accepts the individual and not visa versa. LaVerne Williams wants to spend his life doing what he loves, playing baseball, but he encounters insurmountable obstacles such as his shattered shoulder that denies him acceptance to the Kansas City Athletics team. Subsequently, he loses his confidence and his purpose in life by being unable to join this community. A.B. Clayton grows up without a father figure and an indifferent mother. He has never known what support and family is like and silently craved the lack of. However, in Thin Blue Smoke by Doug Worgul, though Kansas City is sullied with thoughts of racism and violence, through the support and acceptance of a tight-knit and unexpected community with a shared love of barbecue, even the most daunting challenges of the individuals can be overcome. LaVerne, a Texan, first had to learn what the sense of community is. He played baseball…show more content… In a society where race is such a prominent issue, LaVerne breaks through racial barrier by claiming that “[Raymond and A.B.] are both [his]” when they are wrongly arrested by the police, despite the fact that they belong to two different races (127). When A.B.’s mother passes away, his community even more so reaches out to him and promises they will “take care of it all…just leave it to [them]” (224). A.B. has grown up taking care of himself, and for the first time, he has people he can rely on in times of need. Without this community to cushion his loss, A.B. would have truly been alone and had a difficult time trying to recuperate. After his mother’s death, A.B. truly has no family left and becomes fully integrated into the Smoke Meat family, even if he is of a different