rlfj: Blog

One interesting response to Chapter 7. Apparently, Tommy Caparelli pushing his son against a wall counts as assault and child abuse. Maybe nowadays it is, but not in 1979. Don’t go judging historical periods by modern standards. I’d hate to admit the shit my father did to me back in the 1960s and 1970s. Somehow, I survived.

On the other hand, several readers with personal knowledge of adoption or unwed motherhood commented I got it right. Thanks. It seems there are a lot of family trees with some odd branches grafted on. For those who say Tommy and Mary should have told Hersch when he was a child, I reply that’s not realistic. Certainly, in the 1960s the whole situation would have been one of deep shame and social disapproval. What would be the odds that a young child would blab about it to friends, and that his friends would tell their parents? I guarantee there would have been repercussions from telling Hersch too soon as well as too late.

A typo was found in Chapter 3. Fixed. Thanks.

Enjoy!

Not much to comment on in this chapter. We learn that the sins of the father, or in this case the mother, can come back to haunt you. I was curious about the origin of the saying, so I googled it. Exodus 20:5 – “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;” Three and four generations? This is going to be a real problem for more than a few of us! My maternal grandfather was a real character, as was one of my paternal great-grandfathers. I have a sneaking suspicion I am not going to Heaven.

Enjoy!

For those not familiar with New England and New York weather, Chapter 6 refers to nor’easters, a frequent winter storm in the area. A nor’easter is a cyclonic storm that forms off the coast of New England during the winter. While satellite photos make it look like a hurricane, it is different. It forms when warm Gulf Stream water hits cold Canadian air. While most winds in North America blow west to east, cyclonic storms swirl in a counterclockwise fashion, so the wind that hits the mainland is coming from the north-east – a nor’easter. These storms can pummel New England and reach as far inland as the Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks. Two or three nor’easters a year are not uncommon, and they can dump several feet of snow per storm.

Yogi and Boo-Boo refer to The Yogi Bear Show, a very popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon series from the Sixties. If you were around in the Sixties and early Seventies, you know who Yogi and Boo-Boo were. Our kids might have known; our grandkids haven’t got a clue! They were cartoon bears who inhabited Jellystone Park, where they avoided Ranger Smith and tried to grab ‘pic-a-nic baskets’ from campers; Yogi was “smarter than the av-er-age bear!" Even today, my wife and I joke that Yogi and Boo-Boo will come up on our deck and knock first.

Typo in Chapter 5. It was Jake who died in Vietnam, not Jack. Fixed. Thank you to the eagle-eyed reader who spotted it.

Enjoy!

We now move into Book 2, a generation after Book 1. The Caparellis and Tomasinos are still around, but we are now meeting a new family, the Roswells.

This is why I had to rename Father Frank from Roswell to Rossman. When I wrote the story, I forgot that I had already named Father Frank as Francis Roswell. Then I wrote about a girl and her family, the Roswells. I didn’t catch it until too late, at which time I changed Father Frank to Francis Rossman. Again, when I finish the story, I will update the published versions, and you will be able to download the corrected version.

The places I mention in Chapter 5 - Ballston Spa, West Milton, and Rock City Falls – are all very real places. In the 1960s they were small, quiet, and rural. When my wife and I moved to upstate New York, we went from a suburban apartment to a place where building lots were measured in acres. In many townships and counties (but not in villages or cities) the minimum building lot is five acres. We still have family in the suburbs, and they just can’t imagine life where the driveway is over five-hundred feet long, the annual snowfall is over eight feet, and the deer and the antelope play. (Okay, no antelope, but plenty of deer, coyote, rabbit, fox, racoon, bobcat, bear, porcupine, turkey, quail, and every other critter in upstate NY, all on my seven acres.)

FYI – I edited a Soft-R version of the story and have it on Bookapy now. Also, FYI, if you plan to buy my stories, buy them on Bookapy. They pay the authors better royalties.

Enjoy!

The fun and games in Chapter 4, specifically Mary’s excommunication, dates to the Second Vatican Council, commonly known as Vatican Two. Vatican Two ran from 1962 to 1965 and essentially involved modernizing the Catholic Church. More than a few conservative priests fought against said modernization; certainly, Father Sebastiani would have. Elements included increased religious freedom, improved relations with other religions, and that Mass could be done in languages other than Latin. Some priests to this day preach against it. (I almost walked out when a priest in 2000 called the Jews Christ-killers, a curse from the Second Century; I’m 1/8 Jewish and my entire family is of German descent, which would have been a problem if they lived in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s.) Excommunication extends to all sacraments, including baptism, so Herschel would have been denied baptism.

Italian speakers: a few more Italian/Latin words/phrases. Double-check me, please. I can fix any errors.

On a more amusing note, my mother got married in 1952 in a beautiful white satin dress. She handed down the dress to my sister in 1990, who then handed it down to my youngest daughter in 2011. Both my sister and my daughter made some modifications (different trains, etc.) but looked spectacular, and have still managed to stay married. Mom made it to 52 years before Dad died; my sister and daughter are still going strong. That’s a fantastic return on investment for a dress from 1952.

Also, for those who bought the book, the priest’s original last name was Roswell. I changed it in the SOL edition to Rossman. When I finish publishing, I will update the books. You’ll be able to download the corrected version.

Enjoy!