Dear Reader,
Please welcome today's guest author, Henry O. Arnold. He received his B.A. from Pepperdine University and his Master of Fine Arts degree at U.N.C. Chapel Hill. Henry's career as an actor/author spans over five decades with multiple stage and film credits. His most recent film is The Hiding Place. He has recorded over one hundred audiobooks and is the author of the multi-volume biblical/historical fiction series entitled The Song of Prophets and Kings, including his latest title, The Fugitive King.
When not writing Henry can be found hiking on a trail somewhere on the planet. He and his lovely wife Kay have two beautiful daughters, married to two handsome men, with three above-average grandchildren.
Henry is giving away five copies of The Fugitive King. To enter the drawing send an email and your preferred shipping address to: [email protected]
Please welcome author Henry O. Arnold…
Flights of Imagination
In the early days of childhood I was influenced by the characters I saw on television. The standard cowboy or soldier did not stay with me for long. I became attached to a superhero. I believed then and do now that Superman was superior to the rest, an all-inclusive power machine.
My parents did not have the disposable income to purchase a store-bought Superman costume. So before my mother sent me out the door to rid the world of crime, she pulled an old blue shirt of my father's from the ragbag and painted a red "S" on the front. For my cape, she painted a second "S" on a bleached-out towel and fastened it to my shirt with duck-head diaper pins. Not the impressive wardrobe transformation of Clark Kent in the phone booth, but she proved the "mother of invention" is born out of necessity.
I tested my super powers against the laws of nature leaping from the roof of our garage to the deck of our tree house or flinging myself from the tire-swing at the apex of its swing. The sound of my cape flapping in the wind was my heroic underscoring.
I kept the neighborhood crime-free until one day my super powers could not override poor judgment. I was in pursuit of two friends who drew the lot of "bad guy" in our afterschool, make-believe play time. When they dashed into a hedgerow separating one backyard from another, I made a split-second decision. I assumed their intention was to emerge on the other side, and if my timing was right, I would fly over the hedge and crash on top of them just like on television.
I realized too late that I had miscalculated my foes cunning nature. They remained hidden inside the thick hedge. As I soared over the shrubbery I had not considered the possibility that my cape might get caught in the thick greenery. It got snagged in mid-flight, my forward momentum halted, and I was thrust back into the prickly branches.
My shirt and cape were shredded, my flesh cut and scraped, and my Adam's apple knocked to the back of my throat. I slogged home under a cloud of damaged pride, a grounded mortal, threw my costume back into the ragbag, and went into disgraced exile.
Gravity may have won that day, but thanks to the inspiration of a mother's spontaneous creative genius, my imagination has kept me airborne ever since. I don't always make it over the hedgerows, but I have never stopped taking the leap.
-- Henry O. Arnold
Enter the drawing for one of five copies of The Fugitive King. send an email and your preferred shipping address to: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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