Three Red Notebooks

Months ago, when I was finally wrapping up the manuscript for “Boy of the Pearl,” three red notebooks came to me. I was unaware that my father, Ben, the story’s main character, had been jotting recollections of his adventures (and a few misadventures) as a boy of eleven during World War II. The notebooks, Walgreens brand, are crammed with stories, anecdotes, and notes. Here’s an unedited snippet of a note Ben wrote to me. Finding it three years after he had passed on, I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. For one thing, my Dad, my own father, misspelled my name! Whatsupwiththat.

Celest did we—has this story about my daredevil side on my uncle’s bike (motorcycle) I borrowed it one Saturday aft. to use it and maybe show off as___. The story was a funny one blah blah bla!

I’ll leave you with this: the angry goose. A true story Ben recorded in one of his notebooks, and you’ll read all about it in a future newsletter.