SHAKY START (Chapters 1-11 complete)
Prologue Page 3
Mine is a simple perhaps even unremarkable account exploring the life of a boy tussling his way to manhood. So why recount it? Like the Ancient Mariner, I am driven to tell this tale.
Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woeful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;
And then it left me free.
Tale of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1. The Child is the Father of the Man Page 4
Then, muted laughter, as, gulping for air, I awkwardly struggled back onto the stage. At that instant, like the pop of white light from a flash bulb, the disappearance of my father came into sharp focus.
2. Blue Bird Page 24
Childhood was an overflow of exploration, and discovery. An exhilarating thrashing about, inventing the person I wanted to become. I believed whole-heartedly that I was the architect of my own life.
3. Farmhand Page 32
Once the mother’s heaving reached a peak of intensity, the process was quick. I gripped the front hooves that were the first evidence that the calf was coming and pulled gently and steadily. Momentum gradually increased until the entire slick calf slipped out of the birth canal.
4. Outsider Page 44
“Some of us aren’t meant to belong. Some of us have to turn the world upside down and shake the hell out of it until we make our own place in it.” Elizabeth Lowell
5. No Father was There Page 55
It was icy cold. My Harris Tweed sports jacket was no match against Ontario winter. I pulled up the lapels and closed them over my chest. Still shivering from the walk between the exit stairs of the DC-3 and the terminal, I saw him. Steps away was my father. Had I been wearing a felt hat, burgundy wool scarf, and long charcoal overcoat, we could have been mistaken for one another. A smack in the face resemblance that would become my life’s work to escape.
6. The Compromise Page 66
He is especially wayward when it comes to girls. Sometimes I think he is driven by the Devil Himself. I prey that none of them is with child on his account. At any rate, I hope and pray that his father’s guidance is what will get him onto a better path.
7. Here We Go Again Page 73
Obstacles, threats, and fears were constant companions. Yet, I held on to my fragile identity more attentively than a mother holding her newborn for the very first time. Capable of any sacrifice to protect the fragile life.
8. Triumphs Page 88
During the two years at the Orangeville District High School, I did not see academic, athletic or student government successes as my most valued accomplishments. My greatest triumph was making my first real friend. John Turner lived on a farm that had not yet replaced its horsepower with machines.
9. Blood and Water Page 108
We could double date, deliver lambs, carve the nuts out of young bulls, laugh full-heartedly at a lewd play, yet never discuss sex. There were other things we never talked about. Being the only one in his large family with brown eyes and dark complexion, and Bertha’s unlikely birth of John in her mid sixties, were never discussed.
10. Where My Story Began Page 127
“Behind all my stories is always my mother’s story. Because hers is where mine began….” Mitch Albom
11. Taking a Chance on Love Page 143
He was wearing his air force blues, without the hat and jacket. Sleeves rolled up to the elbows and tie tucked in his shirt. “He was the most handsome airman, no, the dreamiest man, I have ever seen,” the girls chided to one another. Blaring from the speakers was Benny Goodman and his Orchestra’s rendition of “Taking a Chance on Love”.
12. Recognition, Reconciliation, and Redemption (to be written) Page 153
Epilogue (to be written)