The primary aim of the "Novel Excerpts" blog category is to showcase my creative writing, specifically from the novels I've written. Hopefully, these posts will provide a glimpse into my storytelling style, themes, and narrative skills. It's an opportunity to share my artistic expressions and the worlds I've created through my novels.
The Boaz Scorekeeper, written in 2017, is my second novel. I'll post it, a chapter a day, over the next few weeks.
After the Sand Mountain Reporter published my ‘anonymous’ indictment against the five prominent families, I knew the citizens of Boaz would be in an uproar, raving against them. I could not have been more wrong. The local community circled their wagons around these five families.
For the next three weeks, in all three weekly editions of the Sand Mountain Reporter, there was a full-page ad with the title, “Boaz United: Justice for John.” The ad included a short statement that everyone deserved forgiveness but that in this case none was called for because The Flaming Five had all been acquitted (the Newspaper got its facts wrong) of all crimes against Wendi and Cindi Murray and that not one of the nine men listed in my ‘anonymous’ indictment had ever been charged with any form of crime involving the deaths of Bill and Nellie Murray. The ad said little about John’s disappearance other than calling for his release and return.
The ad contained five photographs: an aerial view of First Baptist Church of Christ, and frontal views of First State Bank of Boaz, Adams Buick, Chevrolet & GMC, Radford Hardware & Building Supply, and Ericson Real Estate and Property Development. All five photos were within a large circle in the center of the ad with an upward sloping diagonal phrase printed with the words, “Boaz Loves & Supports You.”
Three-quarters of the way down the page, in bold and large print, was the phrase, “BOAZ IS UNDER ATTACK.” Underneath this title and in regular print was a paragraph that basically urged every Boaz citizen to, as always, shop in Boaz, and to be on the lookout for strangers and for “oddities” as the article put it.
At the very bottom of the ad was an invitation to the annual, Celebrate Boaz, July 4th event held on Billy Dyar Blvd. The invitation announced that the Flaming Five would be co-hosting along with infamous country music singer Shania Twain.
Along with these full-page ads were separate quarter page ads by the families of the Flaming Five scattered throughout the newspaper. These ads offered deep discounts on merchandise if accompanied by the ad itself. The Church’s ad offered something even better, mercy, love, and forgiveness available anytime, at any hour of the day or night, simply by stopping in at the Family Center. It also included a 50% discount for every new student enrolled in the Upward Bound Bible and Basketball program.
These ads, invitations, and announcements brought a new wave of unity and solidarity. Everywhere I went within Boaz I felt a team spirit enthusiasm. Mayor Adams and the City Council had also initiated a yellow ribbon program for John revealing their desire for his return. The City’s website also included an invitation for each citizen to come to City Hall for a small yellow ribbon to wear on their label and for a large one to tie around a tree. The site also provided a short history of the yellow ribbon stating that during Desert Shield and Desert Storm the ribbons appeared along with the slogan “support our troops,” which obviously implied “bring our troops home.” The site also included singer Russ Morgan’s lyrics to “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” This was a song he had created (he altered the original version in 1917 by George A. Norton titled ‘Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon’).
“Around her hair she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore it in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you ask her why the heck
she wore it
She wore it for her soldier who was
Far, far away
Far away, far away
She wore it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
Around the block she pushed a baby carriage
She pushed it in the springtime
In the Merry month of May
And if you ask her why the heck
she pushed it
She pushed it for her soldier who
was far, far away
Far away, far away
She pushed it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
Behind the door her daddy kept a shotgun
He kept it in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you ask him why the heck he kept it
He kept it for her soldier who was far
far away
Far away, far away
He kept it for her soldier
Who was far, far away
On the grave, she laid the pretty flowers
She laid them in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you asked her why the heck
she laid them
She laid them for her soldier who was
Far, far away
Far away, far away
She laid them for her soldier
Who was far, far away.”
Sitting in my office the end of June, just days before the July 4th Celebrate Boaz concert, I couldn’t help but associate the blind ignorance of the Boaz community with Christianity in general. It seemed every citizen had been completely misled. Only a handful knew the truth, and every one of these, rested softly and securely in a large and extravagant Flaming Five related mansion. The citizens supported these five crime families because it was in their best interest to do so. It was that simple. These five families, in direct and indirect ways, controlled the economic well-being of every Boaz citizen. I didn’t dispute this, but, I knew the real and deeper truth. The Flaming Five and their families were simply smoke and mirrors. They acted carefully to convince their audience that they were honest, hardworking, caring, God-fearing people who, blessed beyond compare, simply wanted to make life better for everyone in their community. This seemed to me related to what Christianity does. I still felt sad, almost ashamed, to even think of my own Christian journey. I once, like virtually every Boaz citizen, believed with my whole heart that Jesus was God’s only begotten Son, who came to earth as a baby and grew up to die for my sins to give me eternal life in Heaven with Him and His Father. But, that ended when I experienced and endured the Murray’s story. That prompted me to wake up, to start researching, and with ultimately concluding that the Bible is merely man-made, there was no Adam and Eve, and even if there were an actual Jesus, he died and stayed dead just like every other man who had ever lived.
The Pencil-Driven Life 