Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth
A peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father,
Brothers all are we.
Let us live with each other
In peace and harmony.
Let peace begin with me,
Let this be the moment now.
With every breath that I take,
Let this be my solemn vow...
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace and harmony.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Sy Miller
Jill Jackson
SEARCHING FOR JUSTICE
BY
WILLIAM J. DAHN
INTRODUCTION
September 1, 1989
“Don’t Shoot My Daddy!”
Five year-old Kevin Lane was having a hard time understanding all the activity in the front yard of his North Portland home. Minutes ago his dad, John, was loading up the family van with fishing gear getting ready to take Kevin and his fourteen year-old brother, Kyle, on a Labor Day weekend fishing trip. Now there was an imposing 6’ 3”, 200lb man with a gun standing in his front yard shouting at his 5’ 9” 160 lb dad.
“DROP THE KNIFE” Officer Westbrook shouted.
John Lane was standing approximately one hundred feet from Westbrook and on this cloudy and rainy day it was difficult for Lane to see through the thick mist that the man shouting at him was a Portland Police officer.
A confused John Lane shouted back, “GET OFF MY PROPERTY”
‘DROP THE KNIFE AND GET ON THE GROUND”
“GET OFF MY PROPERY”, Lane shouted once again.
“DROP THE KNIFE OR I WILL SHOOT!”
Lane now seeing as the man moved closer that he had a gun threw his knife across the yard.
“GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!”, Officer Westbrook shouted as he pointed his Glock-17 at John Lane.
Young Kevin Lane with the quivering voice of a frightened child, shouted,
“DON’T SHOOT MY DADDY!”
Mary Lane hearing the commotion in the front yard came running out of her house. Seeing a man with a gun in their yard she screamed,
“DON’T SHOOT MY HUSBAND!”
“GET DOWN ON THE GROUND” Officer Westbrook firmly requested.
As he began to kneel on the ground John Lane started to glide towards the officer.
“DON’T SHOOT MY HUSBAND!”
“DON’T SHOOT MY DADDY”
With his weapon still pointed at John Lane, Officer Westbrook shouted once again,
“GET DOWN ON THE GROUND”
“DON’T SHOOT MY HUSBAND!”
“DON’T SHOOT MY DADDY”
John Lane knelt on the ground, then made a motion forward.
POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP. Six shots rang out.
The cries of a young boy, the shrieks of a teenager, and the screams of a new widow could be heard for blocks as John Lane fell to the ground.
You have just read the introduction to the fictional novel that I am writing. Because I am often embarrassed by my writing I don't share it. Certainly not like this in its first draft, unreviewed, unedited form. To be submitted to a publisher the writing has to be double spaced but that doesn't work real well on a blog which is why it is single spaced. Be kind!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
Well, you've certainly grabbed MY attention. What comes next??????
Mary
Thank you. Now comes a story with a lot of twists and turns that involves the gangs and underground drug trade in Portland involving a few rogue poilice officers discovered during the investigation of a wrongful death lawsuit. Thrown in will be a few dramatic court room scenes.
Bill
I can't wait till its published..it grab my attention as well!!!
Hi There Symply
Thanks for the nice comment. I will doing the happy dance if it ever gets published.
Bill
Is this the one your brother was involved in? I've been waiting for you to write about it for years!
Hi Mary
Yes it is about my brother's case. I stopped writing when dad got sick. With caregiving and managing three hundred clients there was no time left for writing. One of the reasons I retired early was to get back to writing. Right now I am in the process of reviewing the two thousand pages of research that I have. Even though it is fiction I'm trying to be detailed oriented. When I type September 1, 1989 I know it is a Friday, for example. I also went back and found pay scales for police officers back then and the cost of drugs on the street. Now if I can just learn when to use effect or affect and who are whom I may be good to go.
Bill
Keyboard replaced and now I can leave a comment. I would certainly read on after that gripping opening. As to 'effect' and 'affect', those are minor things and are what a copyeditor is for. Don't sweat the small stuff. I've been waiting to read this book for a long time.
Hi, Pat
I'm glad you got your keyboard working again. Thanks for the nice comments, I am trying to invest one to two hours a day right now and after April 15th might go full time with it. It may affect my life for a while but I don't know what the effect overall will be!
Bill
LOL, Bill! I see you have effect and affect down, so now it's on to who and whom. But don't sweat that, either. Just write your fingers to the bone and then let some copyeditor clean it all up for you. It's the story that counts.
Hi Pat
Thanks for the encourgement. I didn't even know what a copyeditor was until you mentioned it so I think I will leave lay, lie, etc up to them.
By the way DanaRae tried to post yesterday and couldn't so she sent me an email, she sent hi's to you and Mary.
Bill
Here we go with this as a message board again. When next you contact DR, do tell her hi for me, and I hope her life is going well. Tell her we all miss her online.
As to lie and lay, they're easy. You lie down, but you lay your pencil down.
And just fyi, here's another that most authors seem to get wrong: "prone" means you're lying on your stomach; if you're lying on your back, you're "supine". Ain't writing FUN?
Yea, I think I'm in. I can go public with my comments.
Bill, I'm delighted to see you're back to the novel, which I've always felt was a winner, from your first mention of it. You've got a great hook for an opening and you "show" (rather than tell) and do dialogue great and... well I'm just happy you're back at the keyboard writing the manuscript, rather than punching in numbers 24/7.
Hi, Pat
Look who posted. Lady Dr is DanaRae so say hi to her!
As to lay or lie would it be John lay on the ground dead or lied on the ground dead? Probably lied.
I never in knew the difference between prone and supine that could really impress a publisher!
You should be writing a book.
Bill
DR
You are in! Nice to see you.
Thank you for your nice comments. I have always thought my dialogue was my weakest part of my writing so it as real upper to have a professional editor say something good about it.
If the book does get published I am going to have a lot of people to thank like all of the nice ladies that have posted supportive comments here.
Bill
Post a Comment