Eagle Harbor
To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful
countries in the world.
(John Muir)
Portrait of a Friendship
Mrs. St. Clair, the English teacher at Eagle
Harbor High School, gives Trevor Gage and his classmates an assignment to write
a book. Seventeen-year-old Trevor
dreads the thought of penning a novel, and never imagines all he will discover
about his father when he finally settles on a plot revolving around Johnny’s
experiences with Evan Crammer. After
conducting hours of interviews with those people directly involved in the two
times Johnny encountered Crammer, and after hours of research and months of writing,
Trevor discovers that his book is missing a very important section – the reason
why Johnny moved so abruptly from Los Angeles to Colorado in 1985, and why John
Gage and Roy DeSoto lost contact with one another for fifteen years after that
move. Dogged determination on Trevor’s
part uncovers the answers to those questions, much to Johnny’s anger.
__________________
Papa was standing behind his
desk, glaring at me. I slowly walked
toward him. I had no idea what he was so upset about until I got behind the
desk, too, and caught sight of the computer screen.
“What’s this?”
Oh shit, I thought again, no longer caring that it was Sunday and I’d
just gotten home from church. I knew I was a dead man. I’d forgotten to delete the Scott Monroe
file from Word after I’d printed it.
“Uh...something...something I
was re...uh researching for my book.”
Papa took a deep breath. The
kind a parent takes while he counts to ten and fights against the urge to
strangle his kid. When my father finally spoke he asked in a tight, controlled
voice, “Where’d you get this stuff?”
“I...I ordered it from the
Los Angeles Times. From their...it was in their archives.”
Papa’s eyes narrowed. “You
had no business sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, Trevor.”
__________________
It’s Trevor’s
turn to be angry when Johnny makes a man-to-man request of his son to stop
writing the book. From there, a chain of events occurs that leaves Trevor
devastated and blaming himself for the death of someone who means a lot to him,
and means a lot to his father. It takes
the arrival of an old friend to open the lines of communication between Johnny
and Trevor, that in turn, will lead the way to a solid father and son bond that
will last a lifetime.
Portrait of a
Friendship is set in the quaint town of Eagle Harbor, and takes the reader
through Trevor’s senior year of high school.
Old and dear friends, including Roy DeSoto, play pivotal roles in Johnny
and Trevor’s lives during this year of happiness, turbulence, sorrow, growth,
and triumph.
Portrait of a Friendship is posted in
eight parts of approximately 50 pages each for ease of downloading.