Back
in the Day…is the second book in the “historical
life series” of a boy born in Nebraska in 1932, and will cover his ten year
period from 1945 to 1955. The author
will take you on “time travel trips” back to specific time frames in the story
to maintain the flavor of the places and individual characters in the story
from his four years in high school, the summers in-between, and throughout his
four years in the U.S. Navy. You will
share his opportunity for adventures in both the places he visits and people he
meets.
Genre
Classification – Historical Fiction
Back
in the Day…was published (October 2012) by
CreateSpace as a paperback and also a Kindle-Ready conversion with both of them
being immediately available on Amazon.
Expanded distribution was also made available through CreateSpace with
distribution to major book stores (like Barnes & Nobel) through Ingram Book
Company (the largest U.S. book wholesaler).
Back
in the Day Excerpts…
From
high school…The
juniors and seniors were assigned in pairs for the freshman initiation process, with an attempt to diversify them between
farmers, ranchers, or Curtis townspeople.
The pair (Rowdy and Dewayne) who were assigned to Johnny and I approached
us, carrying white porcelain pots (hospital bed pans). Rowdy said, “I know you’re swell little guys,
but I want you to do two things. Drop
those silly smiles off your faces immediately, then drop your pants and sit on
these pots right in from of the NSA arch.”
From
summers in-between…This
particular day, Sonny and I had made our way to Fox Creek, and stripped down
for a little skinny dipping! We hung our
shirts and pants on bushes, weighted down by our shoes that were stuffed with
our socks and skivvies. We were relaxing
in those natural clay bathtubs, when we heard girls’ giggly voices. The normal thing for us to do was to hunker
down as best we could in those deep holes and just wait for them to leave. The girls, getting braver, came down behind
the bushes near the creek bank, and started teasing us by saying, “What are you
guys doing?”
From
the U.S. Navy…Midday,
we were given liberty into Port-au-Prince with our liberty launches landing
near the city market area where the natives were selling their wares. Poverty was everywhere you looked and the
little kids’ appearance led you to believe they hadn’t had a meal for some
time. We spotted Commander Shaw just
ahead of us in the market area talking to a little boy who was leading a donkey
with a rope halter through the area. We
got close enough to hear the conversation and Commander Shaw was offering the
little boy $20 for his donkey. The
little guy’s eyes lit up when Commander Shaw handed him the $20, and he in turn
handed the commander the rope halter attached to the donkey. He proceeded to ride his newly acquired
donkey across the market area, and when he reached the far side of the area he
dismounted. We noticed that the little
boy had been following him all the way across the square. Commander Shaw handed the rope back to the
little boy and told him, “Son, I better not try to take this donkey aboard our
ship. I’ll just give him back to you,
and here is $10 more for you to feed him, since he carried me across the
square.” The little boy’s eyes got as
big as saucers and he ran right over and hugged the commander’s leg!
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