The story opens with three little white boys and a Negro boy calling at the home of Larry, another Negro child, to ask him to go swimming with them. Larry’s mother invites the boys in, gives them each an apple and warns them not to go in the water for a while after eating.
The boys troop off toward the swimming hole with one of the Negroes leading the way in what apparently is a game of “Follow the leader.”
Upon reaching the swimming hole, the children disrobe together and the next page shows one of the Negro boys first in the swim as another Negro child holds one of the white boys off the diving board. In the background, several other Negroes are mingled among the white boys.
After several hours of swimming, they dress together and start home. Larry spots a new white boy in the neighborhood, and the next day they invite the new boy to join them in the swimming hole.
Steve, the new boy, isn’t a very good swimmer so he sits all day in his trunks in the sun and acquires a bright red sunburn. When the boys are dressing to go home, Larry finds his clothing tied in knots. Bob, the other Negro boy, makes a similar discovery.
Steve admits the prank, because “I don’t want to play with anyone who’s colored.” Whereupon Steve turns his glowing red back on them all and starts home.
Larry suggests they all tell Steve the next day they “don’t want to play with anyone the color you are.” The others agree “that’s a good idea.”
The plan is carried out the next day and the boys leave Steve contemplating his sunburned reflection in a store window. Apparently after some soul searching, Steve goes to the swimming hole and tells Larry, “I won’t tie your clothes again” because “it doesn’t matter what color people are.”
“Of course it doesn’t,” Larry tells him. “Come on in the water. I’ll teach you to swim.”
The last page concludes, “They all had a wonderful time together.”