When Lilacs Bloom

About the Book

All the protagonists in this little book struggle with life as do we all. Perhaps one of these suffering unfortunates will disclose something important for a reader. Perhaps a new insight or a new idea will emerge as these protagonists bare their souls. The wonder and joy of the short story is the amount of variety possible in a small book. Examples: A seeker of truth in a saffron robe finds evil waiting for him as he travels his last road. A scoundrel with a dual nature and outstanding artistic talent goes looking for an untried maiden and finds more than he searched for. A conversion by inversion for a non person, a zero, a pure loser finds the ultimate truth that saves them all. An untried psychologist peers into a man's psyche. It's his first patient. His patient searches for self understanding and truth. A pair of swimmers tells how it is to go the distance in marriage; they discover this truth: successful marriage is not so easy. A man is killed by a general of an army defending his home; the man learned a fatal, ultimate truth. All these and more are found in this little book. Why is the title of the entire book called, "When Lilacs Bloom?" Perhaps, if given enough time, we can all bloom, but it's certain, like the lilac's flowers, we all must perish as well when winter's chill falls on us. But in spring, will the lilacs not return? Will humans also return again and again until they finally understand and graduate from life? Life is a school house, is it not?

About the Author

I have been blessed or cursed with the need to search for an Ultimate truth. Have I found it? I have faith; I have faith in God's reality. The driving need to question eliminates the possibility that I will ever avoid doubt. How can one say he thinks and refuses to doubt? Religious literalist and fanatics are troubled with the word doubt. Doubt is but the key that opens the door of possibility. I know this as a truth: I cannot demand that God live for me, suffer for me, or die for me; I face life's challenges as best I can; I ask for nothing more of God than the courage to press on to the end. This book is full, front to back, with my imaginative constructions; it's my way of seeking answers to questions that have no easy answers.