Saving Superman is now available as paperback and e-book. To purchase, see below.
Saving Superman is a heartwarming story about a family suffering with PTSD: the causes, symptoms, effects on other family members, and the pathway to recovery. It's also a story about love, not romance but the compassion that leads us to forgive other people, and ourselves, for the mistakes, failures, and cruelty of life. In the long run, it’s love that holds families together and helps each of us survive.
Meet Pete, a ten-year-old boy raised in East Tennessee back in the 1950s as he narrates this saga of the best and worst year of his life:
On a muggy August morning in 1956, I ran away. Two days down the road, footsore and hungry, I kept walking since I had nowhere else to go. I'd just reached a crossroads when an ear-splitting thunderclap stopped me in my tracks, and before I could recover, the heavens opened up and drowned me. I turned, running straight into the storm. My feet slapped hard and fast on the flooded asphalt, my head tilted back so I could drink. The lightning and thunder cracked all around, and maybe I was crazy, but right then I felt like Superman.
The storm leads him to Jake’s shed, where he takes shelter and gets to know the homeless veteran. He finds out that Jake is always asking questions and actually listens to the answers. But Jake also has his dark side:
By the time I looked back, Jake had pulled himself together and started wiping dishes off with a dirty towel. His expression turned serious when he saw me.
“We need to talk,” he said.
I sat down.
“If I have a nightmare, you can’t touch me, okay?”
“Okay.” I shrugged.
“Listen, Pete! This is important. Do you promise?”
I didn’t understand what was so darn important, but the promise didn’t sound that hard to keep. “Okay, I promise.”
“On your life?”
His words scared me and captured my attention. “You’re gonna kill me if I touch you?”
“Only in a nightmare—the kind where I’m up walking.”
“Like earlier?”
“Yeah, like today.”
I recalled how he’d screamed and hit his head. “You’re crazy, then?”
His jaw muscles clenched, but then he sighed. “Probably so. That’s why you mustn’t touch me.”
There was so much pain and sadness in his eyes, I nodded and said, “I promise on my life.” After that, he let me be.
Jake sends Pete back to his family, and now the reader learns why Pete ran off. Pete’s problems at home erupt into fireworks at school where Pete beats up a bully and the principal calls Pa.
I knew this meant bad trouble. Pa arrived, his face twisted with rage, hands clenched in fists, and muscles bulging underneath his shirt. He dragged me to the car and threw me in the back like a dog he couldn’t wait to shoot. He didn’t even speak ’til we reached home. Mamaw came outside, her lips pursed so tight they’d disappeared. Pa dragged me to the barn.
“Pull your pants down,” he ordered. I obeyed with shaking hands.
“Put both hands on the wall.”
I stood trembling, my hands braced against the rough oak boards, my feet trapped in my pants. Pa reached for a long, thin, bamboo switch and started whipping like to kill me.
This leads to Pete’s second runaway, this time with the intent of finding Jake. Except Jake isn’t at his shed, he’s been admitted to the VA Hospital in Nashville. The road to Nashville proves a rough one for Pete. By the time he finds Jake, Pete's in rough shape.
Jake sank into a chair and nodded for the nurse to leave. Once she closed the door, he reached out his hand. I grabbed it and felt a little safer, but neither of us spoke ’til I stopped shaking.
“Guess things aren’t going very well,” he rumbled, his deep voice both familiar and soothing.
“I’m gonna die.” I told him, looking straight into his eyes.
Jake raised an eyebrow and leaned back in the chair. “How would you die?”
“Get one of them to shoot me.” I pointed to the door.
“Why would you do that?”
I hesitated. Up ’til now, no one knew I’d gone nuts, and if I told Jake, he might tell somebody else. On the other hand, I didn’t want to die.
“I’m crazy. There’s a monster in my head that wants me to shoot myself, or get someone to do it, and I keep seein’ all these men with guns!” I nodded at the door and saw his eyebrows raise a notch. Did he think I was completely nuts?
So it’s finally up to Jake to help Pete and his folks unravel the secrets that are tearing their family apart. But how can a homeless vet with PTSD help anyone? To answer that question, I guess you’ll just have to read the book.
As for Superman? Look for him in the story, and if you know how he was saved, leave me a note. ☺
Meet Pete, a ten-year-old boy raised in East Tennessee back in the 1950s as he narrates this saga of the best and worst year of his life:
On a muggy August morning in 1956, I ran away. Two days down the road, footsore and hungry, I kept walking since I had nowhere else to go. I'd just reached a crossroads when an ear-splitting thunderclap stopped me in my tracks, and before I could recover, the heavens opened up and drowned me. I turned, running straight into the storm. My feet slapped hard and fast on the flooded asphalt, my head tilted back so I could drink. The lightning and thunder cracked all around, and maybe I was crazy, but right then I felt like Superman.
The storm leads him to Jake’s shed, where he takes shelter and gets to know the homeless veteran. He finds out that Jake is always asking questions and actually listens to the answers. But Jake also has his dark side:
By the time I looked back, Jake had pulled himself together and started wiping dishes off with a dirty towel. His expression turned serious when he saw me.
“We need to talk,” he said.
I sat down.
“If I have a nightmare, you can’t touch me, okay?”
“Okay.” I shrugged.
“Listen, Pete! This is important. Do you promise?”
I didn’t understand what was so darn important, but the promise didn’t sound that hard to keep. “Okay, I promise.”
“On your life?”
His words scared me and captured my attention. “You’re gonna kill me if I touch you?”
“Only in a nightmare—the kind where I’m up walking.”
“Like earlier?”
“Yeah, like today.”
I recalled how he’d screamed and hit his head. “You’re crazy, then?”
His jaw muscles clenched, but then he sighed. “Probably so. That’s why you mustn’t touch me.”
There was so much pain and sadness in his eyes, I nodded and said, “I promise on my life.” After that, he let me be.
Jake sends Pete back to his family, and now the reader learns why Pete ran off. Pete’s problems at home erupt into fireworks at school where Pete beats up a bully and the principal calls Pa.
I knew this meant bad trouble. Pa arrived, his face twisted with rage, hands clenched in fists, and muscles bulging underneath his shirt. He dragged me to the car and threw me in the back like a dog he couldn’t wait to shoot. He didn’t even speak ’til we reached home. Mamaw came outside, her lips pursed so tight they’d disappeared. Pa dragged me to the barn.
“Pull your pants down,” he ordered. I obeyed with shaking hands.
“Put both hands on the wall.”
I stood trembling, my hands braced against the rough oak boards, my feet trapped in my pants. Pa reached for a long, thin, bamboo switch and started whipping like to kill me.
This leads to Pete’s second runaway, this time with the intent of finding Jake. Except Jake isn’t at his shed, he’s been admitted to the VA Hospital in Nashville. The road to Nashville proves a rough one for Pete. By the time he finds Jake, Pete's in rough shape.
Jake sank into a chair and nodded for the nurse to leave. Once she closed the door, he reached out his hand. I grabbed it and felt a little safer, but neither of us spoke ’til I stopped shaking.
“Guess things aren’t going very well,” he rumbled, his deep voice both familiar and soothing.
“I’m gonna die.” I told him, looking straight into his eyes.
Jake raised an eyebrow and leaned back in the chair. “How would you die?”
“Get one of them to shoot me.” I pointed to the door.
“Why would you do that?”
I hesitated. Up ’til now, no one knew I’d gone nuts, and if I told Jake, he might tell somebody else. On the other hand, I didn’t want to die.
“I’m crazy. There’s a monster in my head that wants me to shoot myself, or get someone to do it, and I keep seein’ all these men with guns!” I nodded at the door and saw his eyebrows raise a notch. Did he think I was completely nuts?
So it’s finally up to Jake to help Pete and his folks unravel the secrets that are tearing their family apart. But how can a homeless vet with PTSD help anyone? To answer that question, I guess you’ll just have to read the book.
As for Superman? Look for him in the story, and if you know how he was saved, leave me a note. ☺
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