Author Archives: 2elderpreneurs

Ten Years of Love

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Less than 360 words into “Bluebell”, Rowena Kramer’s name has been mentioned three times by Willis Jefferson, a young black man on a road taking him where he never expected to go.  And, as we look at today’s QuotaBill, we learn, to some degree, the impact this woman had on Willis’ life.

“Miss Rowena,” he whispered, and tears blurred his vision.  He had been about twelve when she took him in, and he had stayed for over ten years.  It was the nearly four years, since then, that held his attention, and he wondered if leaving had been a mistake.  Been a long time.  He thought.  “A long time….”

What kind of woman was this whose memory brought tears to the eyes of a courageous young man?  To help you find out, here are three articles & two excerpts that will help introduce you to Rowena Kramer.  And what about Willis?  There’s much to learn about him in these recent posts…

 

Bluebell’s Top Ten

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What does 1,555 have to do with “Bluebell”?  It’s the number of times the Top Ten characters are mentioned, by name, in the novel, and in this issue of ‘First Acquaintance‘, you’ll briefly meet the first half of the group, listed in order of references.

290 – Carl Schenfield: I’ve written about Carl, the newspaper reporter, already in a ‘Character Confessions‘ article, but when he first appears on page 322, we learn that the scenes he was viewing on the road into Drewsport, “were not that different from those of his childhood in rural Montana.  The comparison brought recollections of the fanciful dreams and aspirations those days had known…As he had matured, Carl‘s imaginings begot curiosity about the world outside, and the first seeds of a career in journalism were sown.”

234 – Stacey Norton: It’s on page 44 we meet Deputy Sheriff Norton exercising “greater than normal care guiding his old Dodge along Main Street.  Beyond that, however, there was nothing to denote the tension building within him…When Mary Lou had called, she was extremely distraught, and it had taken several minutes for Stacey to unravel the story.  His first reaction had been to call up a posse, but a second, less dramatic, thought persisted.  His quiet, personal reconnaissance had been the result.”

175 – Struther Tanksley: Struther enters the story on page 8 as, of all things, a mechanical magician, and a whole lot more.  Struther is able to get an old, old  tractor running, completing the task as members of the town are rushing to the aid of a fellow citizen.  “At best, Struther had difficulty speaking; and, when excited, could experience a complete block.”  Yet when he heard about the injured townswoman, “He shook his head.  “That’s a mighty shame!”  The last words, as a pure extension of his instinctive feelings for others, came easily in his rich, rumbling baritone, but no question followed.”

174 – Tog Ericson: We meet Tog driving his two godchildren home from a fun outing on page 7, but within two pages, as they approach the home, life begins to dramatically change for him.  “As they came in sight of the house, Tog was surprised to see a man emerging from the field, a short distance ahead.  Scrambling through the fence, he hurried along the shoulder for a few hundred feet, before crossing, and disappeared into the woods…There was a drifter, he’d seen occasionally in town, but he was blond.  This man had dark bushy hair; but, even though his face had been obscured, in the short time he had been visible, Tog had sensed a familiarity about the man.”

166 – TJ McCretchen:  190 pages into Bluebell, TJ is introduced and within a short number of words, we learn quite a lot about his background.  “Even though TJ felt no great love for his black brothers, his association with the Klan had little to do with its manifesto.  What he found in the brotherhood was a manly image.  His mother had been very prejudicial, but her biases were not those involving skin color; so, lacking an inherited color prejudice, TJ’s biases were more or less benign.”

Coming in another ‘First Aquaintance’, we’ll meet Pastor Andrew Lindsey; Judd Connelly; Heta Rawlins; Dr. Bill Ferguson; and Jeremy Claymore; the rest of Bluebell’s Top Ten Characters.

Love to hear what you think…

  • Which of the first five most intrigues you?
  • Who do you want to learn more about?
  • Can you relate to one of the characters and why?

 

 

Find Someone to Trust

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Sometimes, that trustworthy soul will find you, as was the case for Willis Jefferson, in dad’s book, Bluebell.  Rowena Kramer, a white woman, rescued him, when he was a young child, on the plains of Kansas during a violent storm.  But however that trusted individual comes into your life, there can be a big benefit to finding someone to trust, as this brief excerpt shows.

Because of Miss Rowena he could read, write and speak correctly.  But far beyond that, her teachings had also reinforced those of his mother, which, having seemed inapplicable, he had been ready to cast aside.

“Two Miles?  Mercy.”  He squinted in the direction indicated by the sign.  “Must be a mighty small town.  Not even a water tank showin’.”

“Miss Rowena,” he whispered, and tears blurred his vision.  He had been about twelve when she took him in, and he had stayed for over ten years.  It was the nearly four years, since then, that held his attention, and he wondered if leaving had been a mistake.  Been a long time.  He thought.  “A long time….”

Anyone privy to the details of Willis Jefferson’s childhood would have seen Rowena Kramer as a greater force in his life than he might ever know.  Not only had she taught him about life, and instilled in him a love of it, she had implanted the need to share that love with all of God’s creatures.

Her guidance had given him a spiritual peace that allowed him to see adversity and conflict as merely challenging steps in his long, upward climb.  In academics, he excelled in neither reading nor writing, but with his introduction to numbers his true love was found.  He became an addict, going as far as she could take him in the years that he was in her care.

Wow…that’s a lot of benefit gained by finding someone to trust.  How about you…do you have a story to share about how somebody in your life made a big change?  Leave a comment and you just might inspire a fellow reader to be that person in another’s life.

Don’t Judge a Man by His Coveralls

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Bluebell, my dad’s book that’s first on my list to get published, is filled with thoughts that make it more than just a story.  And that’s what today’s Graphically Said post is all about.

Willis Jefferson, the man described in the quote above, wasn’t wealthy; at least not in the way people normally define wealth.  But there was a richness about him that few could miss, if they looked closely and were honest with themselves.

Learn More about Willis

  1. Read an excerpt from the book.
  2. Check out a recent post about love.
  3. Discover his similarity to Charlie Bucket, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

     

 

How Strong is Love

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True love is stronger than many think and it’s the topic of today’s Bits of Bill.  I think most authors write about what they believe.  I mean, how many novels about a loving God would you expect to find written by atheists?  So, with that in mind, I’m going to be diving into dad’s novel, Bluebell, for things important to him.

Willis Jefferson is a young black man in his early twenties when Bluebell opens.  He’s minding his own business but a deep influence from an older white woman, that lingers deep within his soul, is about to launch him into the type of trouble he’s never seen before.

As we read in an excerpt from the story, he’s nearing a town when a woman’s scream shatters the rural stillness.  It’s a predominantly white town in the 1930’s and he knows full well that intervening could be challenging or even dangerous.  But the love instilled in him by Miss Rowena Kramer, was stronger than even fear and dread, and pushed him toward the house where the sound had originated.  Here’s how my dad tells the rest of the story.

“A whimper from somewhere off the hall was sufficient motivation to re-focus his thoughts, and Willis moved to the doorway.  His glance, taking in the shattered remains of a vase, and a second overturned chair, came to rest on the battered form crumpled on the floor.

Her face and neck were covered with huge red and purple welts.  Blood trickled from one unrecognizable mass that had been an ear; and it was impossible to ascertain the presence of eyes behind the puffed, lacerated lids.  A slightly stronger flow of blood, coming from a ragged gash at the side, just above the left eye, gave Willis his most immediate cause for alarm.

Snatching the cover from a pillow, he dashed to the kitchen.  Returning with a pan of cool water, he fashioned a compress with one of the several strips he’d torn from the pillowcase.  With the larger piece of material, he carefully washed the hideously swollen face.

Willis had no idea of how long he had huddled over the wretched figure; nor, under the circumstances, was he concerned.”

He should have been more than concerned, and would have been had it not been for love.  A love, so strong, that it put the plight of a white woman living in a largely racist town, before the well being of a black man.

Dad writes about love because it’s important to him and part of his life.  He worked long, hard hours to support my mom and raise two children and he still shows the love of his life, as they approach their 73rd anniversary, the type of love and respect that some married couples only dream of.

 

An Unsettling Meeting

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In today’s Character Confessions, I’m speaking with Carl Schenfield, the investigative reporter who went to Drewsport in 1949 to research the story chronicled in my dad’s novel, Bluebell.  “In 1934, Carl had signed on with Trans-World-Wire; and, by 1939, was one of its top correspondents in Europe.  When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he was transferred to the Pacific…” and that’s where I want to start our interview.

Scott: You met someone while you were in the Pacific that greatly impacted you…can you tell me about that meeting?

Carl: He was a “young man, a gunner’s mate from a PT squadron, at an airstrip on Leyte.  They were there waiting for transportation north.  The boy was being reassigned after having been hospitalized for injuries incurred when his boat was blown from beneath him.”

Scott:  And you talked with him for a long time?

Carl:  No, it was “a brief encounter…war rarely leaves time for proper introductions.  Such meetings might be no more than sharing a slit trench, a life raft, foxhole, or being slung over the shoulder of some guy who’s risking his life to save your butt.”

Scott:  That doesn’t sound like ideal circumstances for investigative reporting.

Carl:  Actually, “these situations, and the myriad of others created by war, make room for an openness that is seldom achieved in more refined circumstances.  Maybe there’s an attraction, maybe there isn’t; it’s of little consequence.  In the next minute either, or both of you, could be dead.  It had been that way with…Jeremy.”

Scott: Other than what he told you, what stands out about your time together?

Carl:  We “were together less than an hour” but even in that short time, I “learned a great deal about the boy, his family, friends…and his hometown.”

Scott: Being a reporter during the war, you probably “had seen more death than a hundred men would see in a lifetime. In the midst of such wholesale slaughter, why would hearing about the death of one man make such a lasting impression?”

Carl: During my time in the Pacific, “there had been atrocities enough on both sides to foster grave misgivings concerning the state of the ‘civilized’ world.” Then the kid told me what his town had done, and “I was forced to acknowledge the truth: Ignorance, and the fear it breeds, will always combine with hate to produce the same crop.”

Scott: Thanks Carl for speaking with me today.  Can we arrange to have you back for another session?

Carl:  Sounds doable to me.

Scott:  Well folks, that does it for today but to know when Carl and I speak again, plus get updates on other new articles posted on this blog, get in touch and say, “Sign me up”!

 

Young and Poor, but Not Out

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One of the Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds in 2016 was $24,339 for a family of four with two children under age 18 and, according to their 2017 estimate, 37.9 million Americans lived in poverty.  Poverty in literature is not uncommon either but whether one grows up in reality or fiction, lives that are young and poor can overcome their experiences and that’s what we’ll be exploring in today’s Counterparts in Literature.

Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

According to The Borgen Project’s webpage, young Charlie lived with his parents and four grandparents in a little wooden house and was extremely poor. But he found the golden ticket in a Wonka chocolate that enabled him to enter Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

“Charlie’s personality and good education leads him to become Wonka’s successor. His good manners and the way he is compared to the spoiled rich kids presents Charlie’s personality positively to the audience.”  Charlie obviously defeats his environment and becomes someone many wouldn’t have expected.

Willis Jefferson from Bluebell

My dad pictured Willis Jefferson as a poor, 12 year-old black boy, who in 1927 was facing death on the plains of Kansas during a violent storm.  His ‘golden ticket’ came via the rescue and family love of Rowena Kramer, a kindly white woman.  Later, we find him on a pathway which will prove his early years didn’t prevent him from becoming a strong man.

“He was nearly abreast of the building when a woman’s scream shattered the rural stillness.  He broke his stride, continuing to move in a hesitating half step.  A second scream mingled with the echo of the first, and a third ended prematurely as it was smashed back against the lips that had uttered it…Willis had no idea of how long he stood rooted in indecision, nor was he ever certain as to who or what ended his hesitation.”

Some say authors write from personal experience.  Is that what made Roald Dahl and my father compose stories featuring Charlie Bucket and Willis Jefferson?  Wow…that sounds like the topic for a future post, so until that day, here’s a few ways to further immerse yourself in my dad’s stuff.

Life was Black and White

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Willis Jefferson, a lead character in my dad’s novel, “Bluebell”, was about twenty-six and walking toward trouble, in the book’s opening pages, while reminiscing about a woman featured in two other stories by my father.

“Long ago it had ceased to trouble him that he could love a white woman as deeply as his own mother; and there were times when the two, both so kind, giving and loving, became as one, inseparable.  Because of Miss Rowena he could read, write and speak correctly.  But far beyond that, her teachings had also reinforced those of his mother, which, having seemed inapplicable, he had been ready to cast aside.”

Think Rowena had an impact on this man?  For over 10 years, she had been a force of love in his life; one that challenged him to go where he should go, whatever the cost.  Hopefully, the novel will be available to purchase soon but until I make that announcement, here’s a few ways to dig deeper into my dad’s writings.

  1. Get a FREE short story – I’ve selected three of dad’s to choose from and all you have to do is pick your favorite and let me know which it is.
  2. Learn about Miss Rowena – You’ll find links to previous articles about her, a brief synopsis of “Rowena” and even a free downloadable copy of the book.
  3. Follow our Social Media platforms – There’s a Facebook page for Read My Dad’s Stuff and you can find Miss Rowena on Twitter.

A Glimpse of Ida

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We know we’re not supposed to make snap judgements about people when we first meet them, though we sometimes do it anyway.  If you’re tempted to do so when you meet Rowena’s new mother, Ida Carlson, in today’s First Acquaintance post, I’d suggest holding back.  You might be surprised by something you learn in the following excerpt and also in my closing note.

There was no doubt in Jason Carlson’s mind…From the moment he first tucked his new daughter into bed, he was her captive.  The pathetic need of the frightened child at the depot, had moved him deeply; but, as he gazed down at the tiny creature sleeping so peacefully, he was overcome.  Tears filled his eyes, and he reached hesitantly for Ida’s hand.

“Our little girl, Idee.”  He squeezed the unresponsive hand.  “It’ll be wonderful.  It’s gonna be easier for us, just you…”

For an instant, he had sensed response, then it was gone, and the hand lay cold and motionless in his.

Ida nodded sternly.  “It isn’t going to be easy, Jason.  The child has been bad hurt.  She could be spoiled awful, if we’re too easy on her.  A child’s gotta have security, but it needs discipline, too.”

“And love.”  Jason added softly.

Again, Ida’s authoritative nod spoke only of partial agreement.  “If she’s cared for, and brought up proper she’ll know she’s loved.”

Jason lowered his eyes, allowed the hand to slip from his grasp, and Ida moved into the hall.  I’ll leave a lamp on the hall table for her,” she said.  “You comin’?”

The big man sighed and nodded.  “In a minute.”

So— there would be no miracle.  Ida would not be transformed into a tender, loving person.  She would be for her daughter as she was for her husband: A friend, helper and, with the child, a teacher, but aloof and distant.  Why?  He wondered, and bent to kiss the soft cheek.

The salt of her dried tears lingered on his lips as he straightened.  “Don’t you worry, little one, there’ll be love, all you will ever need!”

Again, he sighed.  How wonderful it would be if Ida could feel as he did.  He shrugged helplessly, a sad smile playing across his lips.  “Well, we’ll just have to do the best we can.  Good night, little girl— God bless you.”

Turning to leave, Jason paused to look once more at the sleeping child.  Barely visible, she nestled deep in the down of the new feather bed, snug and warm beneath the gaily colored comforter.  Those, Ida had seen to.

From the moment they were certain that Rowena was coming, Ida had been up every night, often past midnight, working on the comforter, robe and nightgown.  This Rowena would never know of, unless he told her.  Certainly, it represented love…Jason lifted his eyes:  “Lord, please, let it be; let there be love— from both of us.”

This woman, who agreed to take and raise a child as her own, was a distant cousin of Rowena’s mother and, like her new daughter, also lost her mother at a young age.  In Ida’s case, it was at her own birth.

There’s lots more to learn about this lady and her family in “Rowena”, and the book is now available as a free download.  You’ll find the full story excerpted here on page 6.  Hope you’ll check it out.

 

Appease Your Partner Please

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Is it possible to soothe those seething situations where your partner demands something?  Well, in today’s How-to’s post, you’ll find one solution and perhaps realize that, sometimes, finding another partner could be a better option.

As our story unfolds on page 3 & 4 of dad’s book “Rowena”, we’ve just been introduced to the title character, a young child almost five, and her father, and as their train journey together comes to an end, we learn a great deal more about her dad.

The big man stood and stepped into the aisle.  Retrieving two suitcases from the rack, he dropped the smaller one beside the girl.  “Come along, child, we best be gettin’ off.”

Abruptly he turned, and walked to the end of the car, leaving the child staring after him.

Flexing her thin legs, the girl slid to the floor; and, with the satchel bumping at her heels, struggled to keep up.

“Hurry, Child!  I don’t have all day!”

She hastened her step, nearly falling in the attempt.

His laugh was mirthless.  “I swear,” he muttered, as he hurried down the stairs, “you’re as clumsy as your mother was!”

As the girl reached the vestibule, a blast of cold, dust laden wind swept through the door.  Drawing back, she dropped the bag to cover her eyes; and from the platform she could hear the man’s harsh voice: “For heaven’s sake, girl; get a move on!”

At the foot of the stairs the porter shifted his gaze from the annoyed man to the frightened child and, with three quick steps, was at her side.  “Here, young lady, let me take that.”

Grasping the suitcase, he whispered, “Those are pretty big steps.  Better take my hand.”

There were no words, but what he saw in the child’s eyes would obscure far more eloquent thanks for years to come.  As he eased her down to the rough planks, he said quietly.  “Mind your step, little one, the cracks are nearly as big as those dainty feet of yours.  I’ll just give your bag to…”

He glanced up in time to see the man disappear into the station.  “Well, my goodness⎯ here, let me carry that.”

She shook her head.  “Papa would be mad.”

Grasping the handle with both hands, she started to leave⎯ then, freezing mid stride, turned and executed a childish curtsy.  “Thank you, very much, sir!”

The words had come as those oft repeated instructions of a mindful parent, but the adoration in her eyes left him staring sadly after her.

The conductor touched his shoulder.  “It ain’t something for us to be meddlin’ in, John, but I know how you feel.”

John shook his head.  “Who is that man?”

“Her father.”

“Father!”  He peered skeptically at his companion.  “You’re joshin’ me.”

The answer was obvious in the other man’s eyes.  “Dear, Lord,” muttered John.  “How could a man treat any child that way, never mind his own?”

The conductor shrugged.  “I was talkin’ with the station agent up in Algona, where they got on.  Seems her mother died a few months ago, and he got himself some woman friend that don’t want the girl around, so he’s givin’ her to a family here in Garwood.”

There you have it.  Girlfriend upset that you have a child?  Get rid of the kid.  Or maybe, the story should be written a little differently if this was a real-life ‘How-to’ issue.  Which would you vote for?

  1. Discard the daughter
  2. Dump the dame

Want to continue reading this tale and find out what happens to Rowena?  A free download is just a quick click away and be sure to read about Rowena’s Challenge too!