There are two different scenes in the passage
The first one is set on the outside of a wagon train before or during the year 1861, while the second scene is set on a house after the year 2005.
The first boy is trying to get some wood to warm his mother who is ill and he has to walk to get it. The second boy has her mother ill too, but he has to face with the problem of electricity, so he just makes a phone call to the power company to fix it.
The main difference between the historical era in which they live, when trying to solve the conflict, is that one has to solve the problem himself while the other boy makes a phone call and another person solves the problem for him.
