The

 LOVE RESCUE ME  

        Trilogy   

       

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary  

 

 

   The story takes place in seven stages, like Shakespeare in The Tempest when Jacques says…

   “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

 

   The title is from a U2 song, Love Rescue Me, found on the Rattle and Hum album.

 

   Quotes from Shakespeare and many other literary icons as well as a ton of song lyrics color the narrative throughout the book.

 

       Jack St. Clair is a trust fund, womanizing, guitar playing, ex Golden Gloves boxer.   In the first part of book we find Jack at Boston University; circa 1969-73.  He falls in with a bunch of disenchanted radical students from the SDS; Students for a Democratic Society.  The trio is known as the BU-3.

 

    While in college he meets the love of his love, Diane Dante (Jack & Diane) and they live together for three years.  Diane teaches Jack how to sew and Jack uses his new found skills to alter his warm up sweats, adding a hood to his sweatshirts, tee shirts, his Godfather of Soul bathrobe, even his pajamas have a hood.  Diane calls his altered clothes “The Saint Hoods.”  Jack always thought that was a good name for a band.   The name comes into play later in the book.

 

    Jack is a popular entertainer around Boston and sings at many political rallies and demonstrations.  His original songs are played on the local FM station’s “Rare Tape Night.”

 

     Jack unwittingly gets involved in a political bank robbery with the BU-3. .  Two of the participants are killed and Jack is forced to leave Diane and their love nest without as much as a good bye.   He goes underground.  This part of the book has such real characters as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.

 

     Act II: On the Road

 

    After two of the cohorts are killed during the robbery, Jack and Dimples Goldman flee to Vermont.  Jack calls himself Robin Strangis (robbing strangers.) While there other young people on the run for one reason or another join them in a safe house.  A charismatic leader named Dean Cassidy leads the commune.  Jack takes a job as a bartender and spends his day snow skiing and avoiding the other inhabitants of the commune. After a confrontation with Dean, Jack thinks about leaving. Dean swears revenge and Jack knows his time at the farm is coming to a close and that he must leave soon.  Soon enough, the FBI discovers the nest and firebomb the house.  Jack and Dimples escape showing up on Nantucket Island; a remote island 26 miles off the Massachusetts coast.

 

   While in Nantucket, Jack meets many of the local residents and rock stars. He volunteers as a town ambulance driver.  His fighting name had been Jack, The Saint, St. Clair.   Which he changes to Jonathan Sinclair 3rd, close but enough to throw the FBI off his trail.  Everyone just calls him “Panhandle” a reference to the mythological town where he supposedly came from.  Everywhere he goes Jack inadvertently touches people’s lives. He saves one man’s life, bringing him back from the dead and helps many others.  He is forced to flee the island after a deadly fire, in which Dory, now a hopeless cocaine addict, is seemingly killed. Jack flees the island in the middle of the night.

 

  Act III: The Southern Road

 

    From Nantucket Jack goes to Tallahassee Florida and joins the Florida State University Circus.  Because of his training and nimbleness, he becomes a successful trapeze artist.  He develops a friendship with a beautiful Southern aristocrat named Sienna Driscoll and a midget clown named Holden Caraway 3rd.  He makes an enemy of Moses Thomas Jefferson, a black clown in white face. After a tragic accident where Sienna (Sin) is paralyzed, Holden kills himself. Jack personally deals with Moses, who is responsible and finally slips away into yet another night.

 

   Leaving Tallahassee, Jack finds a weird and wonderful community in the woods near Chattahoochee Florida, infamous or being the home of the Florida State Institution for the Insane.  Jack is forced to box in order to stay in the shadowy settlement, all the time writing songs and meeting new people and helping strangers whenever he can.

 

   The town is called Dogtown. Jack befriends many of the unusual inhabitants but makes a deadly enemy of Alex Redbone, a convicted murderer, puppy killer (you'll see) and current boxing champ.  He makes friends with Chet Youngblood, a Vietnam Vet who becomes a lifelong friend.  Chet and Jack tag team a dangerous enemy.  Jack also befriends a helpless young innocent named Jolene (Juliet) Jensen as well as one of the sons of Cathy Ames, the camp’s leader; a cultural reference to Cathy Ames the wicked mother in East of Eden.  Connor Ames and his brother Alden are a modern day retelling of the Cain and Able story.  Jack has a profound effect on the young Jolene Jensen and Connor Ames.

 

   While in Dogtown Jack comes into contact with a fortuneteller named Ruby Kitt.  Miss Kitt seems to know all about Jack; both his past and his future.  She leaves him with a dire warning, “When you are in the Towers, walk down.”   That advice eventually saves Jack’s life.

 

   Jack finally fights Alex Redbone, but it doesn’t end like you might think.  In the process, he restores Chet’s self worth and leaves Jolene (Juliet) Jensen with a promise of hope for her future.

 

   Jack leaves Dogtown on a train bound for nowhere.  On this journey he meets Joel Simmons a clothing manufacturer with a secret of his own.  Joel has a great effect on the young fugitive’s life.  Joel teaches Jack the garment biz, where Jack thrives under yet another assumed identity, this time calling himself Gram Powers.

 

    Jack is unable to communicate with Diane for fear the FBI will track him down.  Diane has moved to France and unbeknown to Jack has his baby, a beautiful young girl, born on Christmas Day in Paris.  Jack sends his letters to his lifelong friend Delo who compiles them as he is sure they will make a great book.  The working title is “Notes from the Underground.”

 

   Jack is on the Run from 1973-1981.

 

   By 1980, President Carter has granted Amnesty to many of the Vets; it is a time of healing.  After John Lennon is assassinated, Jack decides to come in from the cold.  He has written many songs on the road, one of which Jack plays in a backwoods roadhouse.  While on the road Jack meets Kris Kristofferson “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  Kris becomes another lifelong friend, coming in and out of Jack’s life at pivotal times.

 

     Diane has also been writing Jack the whole time he has been gone.   Are unable to send one another letters for fear of the FBI finding out Jack’s whereabouts.  Jack’s unrealized child, a precocious little girl named Emma, grows up in Paris under the watchful eyes of her mother and her mother’s employer Dr. Marco Falerne. Diane and Dr. Falerne tell the young girl that her real father had been killed in Vietnam and as a result of her grief, she had moved to Paris.  Dr. Falerne loves decisions.  After Jack's first marriage fails, he tries to find Diane but the trail is too cold.  By now Diane has given up on ever reuniting with Jack.  Jack never gives up on finding Diane.

 

    Jack turns himself in after earning a lot of money in the clothing business.  Several of his songs have become popular.  Since he did not actively participate in the bank robbery and was an unwitting driver, the Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, grants him a pardon.  He gets drunk with Kitty and attends a rally on the steps of the Boston State House thrown in his honor, where he runs into many of the people he had helped while on the run.

 

   When he was in college, Jack was embroiled in a flag burning controversy.   This occurrence will directly affect Governor Dukakis' Presidential hopes.  If you Google Kitty Dukakis Flag burning you will see that a similar incident may have cost Governor Dukakis the Presidency.   Jack is approached by Oliver Stone to do a movie of his life, “I was there” but he declines.  In effect, he becomes the poster boy for the radical left and the 60’s in general, giving a face to “Radial Chic.” He writes a new song.  I was there, do you care?

 

   Act IV: Success, Married with Child,

            Freedom and the Aids Epidemic

 

   Jack is now the owner of a successful clothing business and he introduces his Saint Hood line of clothing.  Everything has a hood and subsequently, through hard work and talent, he becomes rich.  He is with former radical Jerry Rubin when Jerry is killed jaywalking on Wilshire Ave in Los Angeles.  Jerry had become a successful investment banker and he and Jack invest their funds in a company called, “The People’s Portfolio.”   Jerry tells Jack, the real work towards freedom and in the fight against poverty is in the corporate boardrooms.  Jerry operates out of a storefront location in Silverlake and Jack sees that change can indeed occur from within.  Jack takes this lesson to heart.

 

    Jack achieves some success as a guitar player and makes many friends in the music business.  Some of the players we meet are Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson, Joe Walsh, Jackson Browne, Nicolette Larson and Dirk Hamilton.  Kris Kristofferson has recorded one of Jack’s songs.  Kris is now an old friend and becomes a mentor as well as a constant presence in Jack’s life.

 

   Jack loses several friends to AIDS and subsequently the old champion of justice reemerges.  Saturday Night Live does a sketch about former radicals making money, spoofing Jerry Rubin and Jack among others.

 

    After the rally in Boston and Jack’s pardon, Time Magazine puts Jack on its cover calling the story, Radically Hip.  The cover story tells the history of the “Radical, Garmento.”  As a result, his clothing company Bluesmen Inc’s business goes through the roof.

 

    Due to the fact that the Reagan administration has failed to mention AIDS once in the first four years of its Presidency, Jack flips Ronald Reagan the middle finger salute during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics.  Jack does this from his private box at the games.  The ensuing fallout is not good for Jack or his clothing company.  The Religious Right goes into battle with Jack and Bluesmen.  Jack the fighter prepares to undergo the battle of his life.

 

   Joel Simmons, now hopelessly senile leaves his clothing empire to Jack.  Jack’s old friend Chet from Dogtown contracts the HIV virus and Jack watches him wither away.  Shortly before Chet’s tragic death, Jack marries Playboy Playmate Margaret Corday at singer Jackson Browne’s house.  The wedding has many notable and famous celebrities. Jack sings a beautiful song to his new bride at the historic home built by Jackson’s grandfather, Clyde Browne.

 

    Greatly missing his best friend, tired of the government’s non-response to the greatest crisis of his generation, Jack becomes an AIDS activist.  After receiving a large apparel order from one of the local department stores, Jack decides to use his money to help AIDS awareness.  He ties in a large Olympics theme clothing order with a condom giveaway.  It nearly costs him his company.

 

   Jack marries former Playmate Margaret Catherine Corday, (Maggie the Cat) who is the National sales manager for his company.  Margaret is unstable but bears Jack a spirited daughter whom he raises.  Jack is a hands on father.  He raises Juliet Red Rosie (the flower child) St. Clair to grow up having many of the same strengths and ideals that are so deeply ingrained in her father.   Jack writes a song for his newborn daughter called, Saving the Day.  Jack and Julie Red Rose go out in the world with the sole purpose of helping at least one person that day.

 

    Jack has become a leading AIDS activist attending many benefits.  At one of the functions he becomes friendly with Elizabeth Taylor and Berry Berenson Perkins, wife of actor Anthony Perkins who had contracted the AIDS virus.  Chet gets sicker and sicker, eventually dying in Jack’s arms.  His old friend leaves him with advice that Jack will need later in life.  Jack takes Chet’s remains out on The Serenity Prayer, a beautiful 38’ sailboat left to him by Joel Simmons.  Jack knows Chet will always be with him in spirit.  Chet later appears to Jack in a dream which helps Jack in his time of crisis.

 

    Unbeknownst to him, Jack’s lost love Diane has had their baby in Paris, France.  Emma du Barry is a bright young girl, and Diane raises her alone, with the help of her employer Dr. Marco Falerne.  Dr. Falerne is in love with Madame du Barry but her heart will always belong to Jack.  As Emma grows, Diane writes letters to Jack describing their child, but she is not able to send them.  Like her stepfather, Dr. Falerne, Emma goes into medicine.  Aided financially by Dr. Falerne, the young girl attends Boston University, becoming a doctor of medicine   Mother and daughter have moved to Boston where Emma goes to work at one of the Free Clinics in a poor Boston neighborhood. Now back in the States and alone, Diane turns to her Catholic religion and charity work.

 

     With Emma gone Diane becomes severely depressed eventually returning to her old religion for solace.   Diane still sends her letters to Delo, who reads them and logs them into his computer.  Jack has also been mailing his journals to Delo’s unknown lake house.  Delo now has both sets of letters.

 

  Act V:  Life Goes On....

       Dating.  A Spiritual Quest

                 and Raising a Teenager   

 

 

   Jack and Rosie go to Maui where Jack meets a Shaman.  Aided by a magic potion, Mama Joy takes Jack on a spiritual journey.  Through the holy woman, Jack meets a centuries old Siberian woman called Tee-Neng.  This Spirit guide channels Jack’s deceased mother who gives him advice and hope. Rosie has a dream of her own where she learns the meaning of her Native American name; Two Hawks.  Jack, his Spirit guide and Rosie share in one of Jack’s most heartfelt songs.  Later, still on Maui while on one of their Saving the Day missions, Jack and Rosie witness two authentic Christmas miracles.  A group of lost sailors are miraculously saved and Jack and Rosie are firsthand witnesses to this Christmas Miracle. Jack and Rosie return from the island energized and revitalized.

 

   Several years pass and Jack has gone the way of so many other lost idealists.  He has begun taking anti depressants and sedatives.  Reluctantly he realizes that these are not the answers to life’s questions.  It is six years after his previous trip to Maui.  He goes back with his daughter Rose.  While on the island Rosie is put into grave danger and is trapped in the cave where Jack had contacted his deceased mother.  Jack’s mother comes to him once again, this time in a dream.  She takes him to a self-revealing multi-tiered tower where she reveals Jack’s true purpose in life and she tells him where he can find his Rosie.

 

    Jack and Rose return once again from Maui and Rosie comes to live wither father.  Jack is now the sole custodial parent.  He puts Rose into a private Catholic school, devoting his new single, sober life to her.  Rose excels at school and it is a happy and productive time for the two St. Clair’s.

 

    In Sept 2001, Jack and Rosie go to NYC.  Jack is prepared to take an offer for the controlling interest in Bluesmen Enterprises.  The meeting is set for 8:30 am, at One World Trade Center, in the North Tower.  The weekend before the meeting, Jack and Rosie explore the city.  Jack has an epiphany at the base of the Statue of Liberty.   Emma Lazarus’s words at the base of the statue prompt Jack to change his life’s goals, yet again.  He makes a solemn vow to himself but this is not meant to be, not at that time.  Later the two vacationers see a Broadway show and spend time at the John Lennon memorial in Strawberry Fields in Central Park. The pair then fly to Boston, where Jack has a bitter and painful reunion with two of his sisters.

 

 

  Act VI: Relapse, Loss & Skid Row

 

 

    On the morning of the 9/11 attacks, Jack and Rosie are taking an early morning flight out of Logan Airport in Boston.  Jack must get to New York for his big business deal.  While in the airport, Jack runs into several of his TJ Maxx buyers who are on their way to LA to open a new store.  He also sees his old friend Berry Berenson, the actress, AIDS activist and widow of Anthony Perkins.  Berry is also on Flight 11 with the TJ Maxx buyers.  Jack promises them all they will get together in LA, not knowing that Flight 11 is scheduled to slam into the same building where Jack’s morning meeting is set to take place.

 

    Jack is in the WTC, going public with his small but profitable clothing company when the first jet hits it. The final offer for his company comes as almost as big a shock as Flight 11, when it slams into the side of the building.

 

    Jack had been offered a great deal of money for controlling interest in his Bluesmen Enterprises. But at what price and from whom?  Jack walks down the 39 flights safety but will be forever changed.  After witnessing firsthand the horror and destruction as well as seeing many of the two hundred plus jumpers who leapt to their deaths, as soon as he gets back to his hotel room, Jack pours his first drink in some time.  Bluesmen Inc is tied up in the courts for years, once the not meant to be controlling partners die when their building is hit during 9/11.

 

   Unable to handle the horrors he witnessed, Jack relapses and begins a three year downward spiral.  Rosie is about to graduate high school and will soon to be off to Stanford University.  Jack suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He starts drinking and using heroin again ultimately ending up on Skid Row and in two very different Los Angeles Missions.  The reader gets an intimate glimpse into life inside these two big city missions.

 

    Jack ends up re-addicted to drugs and loses everything, including his two front teeth and self respect.  His family and friends turn their backs on him and he ends up alone in downtown on Los Angeles’s Skid Row.

 

  Act VI:  Jesus Saves. Moses Invests  

      Sober, Redemption  and Love at last.

 

 

   Jack lands at the Los Angeles Rescue Mission, a Christ-based recovery program.  Jack, previously sober in a 12 Step program has a hard time accepting the rigors of organized, right-wing Fundamentalist Christianity and he rebels.   During the six months Jack is at the Mission, he studies his Bible but eventually he sees the hypocrisy of those who use the “God’s Word” to suit their own agendas.  In desperation and frustration, he uses again and is asked to leave.

 

   After a month on the street Jack is accepted at the Midnight Rescue Mission.  He realizes for the first time in his life, that being white on the black run streets of downtown Los Angeles is not an advantage.  He learns to swallow his pride and now out of options, he permits abuse from several black men who despise him, solely because he is white.  He discovers he has become ‘small’ when all his life he had been ‘big.’

 

   Jack’s daughter Emma du Barry, along with her mother has moved to Boston.  Young Emma attends her mother’s (and father’s) alma mater, enrolling in Boston University.  Emma becomes a doctor, volunteering at several free clinics in the Boston area.  It is here where she meets Juliet Jensen-Ames, the very girl from Dogwood that Jack had propelled into a medical school of her own.  The two do not realize their Jack St. Clair connection until later in the book and well, you’ll see.

 

   While at the Midnight Rescue Mission, Jack writes an epic poem written in the Rap style of the streets called,  “Ode to the Nickel.”   He sees his addiction like an old lover gone badly and writes Dear Disease, a love letter to his addiction.

 

    Jack reclaims his life, and health.  He works his 12 Step program and for the first time since 9/11 he has hope for the future.  His lawyer James Westcott tells him that Bluesmen’s legal issues will soon be resolved and once again Jack will be a rich man.  Jack makes a strange request of Jim, which puts into motion Jack’s plans for the future.

 

   It is now 30 years later when Jack sees his college sweetheart, the love of his life, Diane Dante.

 

   Diane is on a ten-city charity trip giving away shoes and socks to the homeless.  Jack sees Diane while she is volunteering at the Los Angeles Rescue Mission.  Diane is working for her church group giving away shoes and socks to the poor and taking a lesson from Jesus,  they wash the feet of the poor.  Jack is so ashamed of what he has become, that he is unable to present himself to her.  Six days go by.  She is due to leave after seven.  Finally, painfully, he walks up and sits in her chair.  Without looking up Diane recognizes the unique feet, silently hoping it is her one true love. But what would Jack St. Clair be doing in a Skid Row mission?  Finally Jack says their once favorite line (“Is this seat taken?”) and they are finally reunited. It is February 29th, 2004.  Jack and Diane have not seen one another for almost  thirty-two years.  Seeing that is Leap Day, Diane asks Jack to marry her and Jack immediately accepts.

 

   Emma has now traveled to Los Angeles to be with her mother.   Together Jack and Diane go to meet their daughter and tell her that her real father (Jack) has been alive all these years. Emma is overjoyed; having always secretly believing her real father was alive. Emma and Rosie, sisters now, meet.  Rosie promises to join them in their new endeavor once she graduates from Stanford.  Together Jack, Diane and Emma coceive of a program dedicated to helping others.  The call the new program The We Are Family Foundation. Jack, Diane and Emma use their combined resources and put everything they own towards helping others/  Above the door to their new headquarters are the immortal words from the Book of Acts;

 

       “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

 

 

         Darryl Lorenzo (Delo), now an editor in San Francisco has saved their mutual letters.  He puts the letters together, having  waited   these years for a happy ending.  He calls it Love Rescue Me.  Love on a Mission.  It’s a big hit and they live happily ever after.

 

            Or do they?

 

 

 

 

 

Afterword

From Author

John Stover

To the Reader

 

     Jack St. Clair is a fictional character. Of course there are some autobiographical elements, however my guitar playing is almost as bad as my boxing.  Mainly due to a motorcycle accident when I broke my wrist at twenty years old, I am neither a boxer nor much of a guitar player. Jack St. Clair is a blend of my experiences and people I have known throughout my life.

 

    Jack and I share the same birthday and like Jack I attended BU for almost three years.  And like Jack I did not graduate, however my departure was due to a more hedonistic basis.   I never robbed a bank. In fact, I’ve never robbed anyone or anything.

 

    I have taken some liberties with timelines. For instance when Jack meets Berry Berenson and Brad Davis’ widow Susan Davis at the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS fundraiser, Brad had not yet gone public with his condition as he felt it best to keep his condition a secret due to the bias that existed at the time.

 

    I tried to be true to all the dates of the music and literature.  In the dueling author scene when Jack wrestles with his John Irving choice, Irving was not yet the celebrated author he is today, but sometimes you can force a square peg in a round hole.

 

     Being a lifelong music and Shakespeare fan I have sprinkled lyrics and verse throughout the book.  Jack’s Love of all music reflects my own.  I have witnessed Diane-like conversions time after time. A good song can get you into a woman’s heart quicker than flowers or candy. A good poem or song can take you to a place never reachable by mere prose.

 

     Like Jack sex has always colored my life. The epiphany event with Mama Joy is taken from a personal experience.  In that scene when Jack realizes that his penis is his nucleus actually happened to me on an LSD trip.  I have no idea how many women I have slept with as unfortunately many of those memories are clouded by drugs, time, convenient amnesia, frequency and repetition. When I was younger to quote Dorothy Parker, “I was too fucking busy and vice versa.”

 

    Delo is based on no one particular person. But many of the elements of this friendship are culled by my relationship with my oldest friend Elliot Berk nee Berkowitz.  Elliot is not now nor has he ever been gay, but like Delo’s and Jack's, our friendship has lasted the tests of tides, time, drugs, and booze, marriages and divorces, money and the lack of it and just about everything else two men can experience in fifty-five years of friendship. Elliot like Delo and Jack, is still in my life. In fact we are going to the beach today and I have no doubt we will sit on the hot sand and hash up old friends and times. To quote Groucho Marx from his book Groucho and Me, “No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.” Certainly Elliot never has been happy about any of my failures and has remained a tried and true Brother.

 

     Jim Westcott is based on another lifelong friend and another man who has stuck by me. Mathew Gilson is as fine a man as I have ever known and like Jim Westcott, a damn good lawyer.  Matt has represented me through all kinds of endeavors; both good and bad and through many of my ups and downs.  He remains a constant in my life. I owe him much. As Euripides wrote in the 5th century BC, “One loyal friend is worth 10,000 relatives.”

 

     As far as Darryl Lorenzo goes, I tried not to stereotype here; later showing Delo in a normal, committed monogamous relationship, albeit it with a trans-gender woman. Maybe you caught it in the early part of the book when Delo snuck into the gay bar; he was on the “down low,” the D.L.  Herbie’s Ramrod Room did indeed exist and thanks to my old friend Chuck the Crisco Kid for that visual.  Chuck is gone from us now and boy do I miss him.  I took Delo’s name (Darryl Lorenzo) from Larry Darrel the iconoclastic anti-hero of W. Somerset Maugham’s prescient classic The Razor’s Edge.

 

     Leigh Darling is based on an actual person, a flight attendant I once knew. Born a man, my inspiration for Leigh would turn anyone’s head as a woman. I was emotionally unable to give her the Love and attention she deserved. Much like the Leigh in my book, she had her surgery done in Bangkok and was as sexy and desirable as any woman I have ever known. I have lost contact with her but I hope she might enjoy this portrayal.  However, I doubt if she can cook like Delo's Leigh Darling.

 

      Prison Pete and Angel Wings are merely means to an ending. I knew a lot of guys like Prison Pete Simons. Angel Wings was just more collateral damage.

 

      I never did meet Jerry Rubin or Abbie Hoffman. It’s amazing how many of my contemporaries have found violent endings. Some might say the Illuminati are involved. Google “Illuminati” for some interesting reading. George Carlin’s take on some of these guys is not only funny but might make your hair stand on end. If for some reason I am not around to promote this book, you might take a look at the Illuminati. If you don’t believe me, just ask Tupac.

 

    Peter Rodriguez and the hospital crew are based on many of the locals I knew on Nantucket Island. And while it is not true I brought a man back from the dead on a pool table, I did drive the Island ambulance for about six months. There were several people that are or might be still be alive today that I put in my red and white. To those of you, (and you know who you are) Dudes how you doing? The Silver Surfer and his waterlogged father who resides in Davy Jones’s locker are based on real people. On my best day I couldn’t make this shit up.

 

      Chet Youngblood is no one person in particular but is based on several friends who died of AIDS. It’s funny; when I conceived Chet I just wanted a character that was out there, someone to color the odd canvas that was Dogwood, hence the aluminum helmet. Dogwood is based on no one place but is an amalgam of places I visited when I was hitchhiking across the South in 1973. As is so often the case, Chet took on a life of his own and before I knew it, Jack had a new best friend. I Love Chet but I have no idea where he came from. I hated to kill him off, but that’s life.  Do people die, people?  People do.  Chet was a good man who lived a good life and like so many others died way too young.

 

       Connor and Ashley Ames are my Cain and Abel.  Sibling rivalry and fratricide are major themes throughout all my work and these two are no exception. In fact I kill off a brother figure in almost every book. Aaron Ames took a shiv in the slams, Alden Jameson of Common Cents had his throat cut and Jay Stone of In-Sight died in a fiery car wreck. Oh the freedom an author enjoys with his ever-present thoughts of revenge.  My sponsor says I need to work on that.

 

      Joel (Simcovsky) Simmons is my Jewish Garmento stereotype. He is based on many and no one in particular. In my work as an aide to the elderly, I worked with a lot of rich, powerful and forgetful men. Men like Edgar DeBrito, Harry Jameson, Harry Greenberg and Edwin W. Pauley. I learned much at the curdled feet of these men and salute them and their lives.

 

      The scenes with Michael and Kitty Dukakis are especially relevant and some of my favorites of the book. If you Google ‘Kitty Dukakis flag burning incident,’ you will see that Republican Senator Steve Symms publicly alleged he knew of a photo of Kitty present while an American flag was being burned. No such photo was ever produced. Guilt by political smear. That’s what that was. Some say this non-existent photo, along with the Willie Horton fiasco cost Governor Dukakis the Presidency. I voted for Michael Dukakis and have no doubt; we would not be over in Iraq and Afghanistan if he had won. The policies put forth by George Herbert Walker Bush the father were only continued by George W. Bush the son.

 

      The flag burning connection between Jack and Kitty was one of those lucky breaks that can occur while writing. When I had Jack stomp on his burning American flag shirt, I had no idea that it would tie into the story later on. But lo, there it was.

 

      Maggie the Cat is based on an old friend of mine who was a Playboy Playmate. Because of her, for a little while, I was able to lie in the world of Playmates and adult fantasy. One day C----- said to me, “For your birthday, I’ll get another Playmate and we’ll all get it on.” Never happened.  Each year on my birthday…. well another Center-road not taken. I was once offered the chance to star in one of her X-rated videos alongside two models. When I told her, “C-----I’m in a relationship.”

 

      C-----  said, “You’ll wear a hood.” Never did get the chance to sleep with two Playmates at once but I have slept with several, one at a time.

 

      I suppose going to the Millennium New Year’s Eve party at the Playboy Mansion would be every man’s dream. It certainly was one of mine. Thanks for bring me C----- . I wish her and her family well and I wish her success aside from marrying well.

 

      Laurel is based on a woman I dated.  Like Plato wrote, “Love is the divine Madness.” Remember people, “Under every skirt there is a slip.”

 

      While it is true my ex wife remarried and moved my daughter further and further away from me and that I did give her the house outright, truthfully it was hers to begin with. Even though I paid into the place for almost ten years, she still deserved it.  I mean, C’mon she had my kid to raise. She is not portrayed in any way in this book. I wish her only the best. My only advice to her, “Never listen to the Doors in your car.”

 

      I have met Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. The middle finger salute is totally made up. I have never met Kris Kristofferson or Warren Zevon. Thanks to Tom Rush, I have met Jackson Browne. I have never been portrayed on Saturday Night Live or partied with most of the people mentioned. The part about the house built by Jackson Browne’s grandfather is true. For several years I took guitar lessons from Jackson’s brother Severin at the Abbey San Encino. For information on this magnificent house go to www.abbeysanencino.com

 

      I lived in Hawaii for several years and I knew several families like the Miranda’s.  I was fortunate enough to live, work, hang out, tell Samoan jokes and play guitar with many of the locals.  Their musical ability and knowledge stuns me to this day.   I still harbor a great Love for all things Hawaiian and the slack key guitar.

 

    The men lost at sea yarn is actually a true account and taken from a son of one of these families with whom I spent so much time.  It generally came to pass however that after a couple of joints and Primos, I was generally referred to as “Fuckin’ Keone, Haole Boy.”  I learned much in my evenings with my Hawaiian friends and wish them all well.

 

      The harrowing scenes in the World Trade Center are not from my firsthand experience. They are based on my good friend Bob Jenkins' recollections. Bob was on the 39th floor of the North Tower when it was hit. He has been an inspiration to me and many others. After he survived the attack he left his job and started his lifelong dream; a fishing rod company called of all things Local Hooker Rods. The link to this company can be found at www.localhookerrods. There is also a link on this site to a firsthand account of his ordeal. Many of the details I used are from Bob Jenkins’ story; however I have elaborated in some parts such as with some of the jumpers and the scenes at the Plaza.

 

      Dory and Orrin Sicklehouse are fictional characters. Orrin grew out of an argument with the self-professed ‘smartest man at the Midnight Mission.’ My question is; if he was so fucking smart how’d he end up in a Mission and by that same token how come he didn’t last?  Oh well, sobriety at any kost.

 

     I have lived in many different places, including Warren Vermont, Nantucket Island, Tallahassee and Hawaii. The FSU Circus is real and one of two major collegiate circuses in the country. I was able to hang out and watch many of the acts perform.  I once dated a girl whose specialty was falling into the arms of several male students from a twelve foot plunge.

 

    Felix Pappalardi and Dr. Voodoo were nodding acquaintances, now long dead. The details of Felix’s death and drug use are a matter of much malicious gossip (of which I am guilty) as well as public record. From what I understand his widow, now out of prison, has moved to Mexico. I would Love to chat with her at some point.

 

      Mama Joy is also a figment of an overactive imagination. God’s Cathedral is a real place and I’d tell you how to get there but then I’d have to kill you. Mr. Takahashi is based on several wise men I met while working and living on Maui and Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay Hawaii. The Miranda’s were a family I knew well on Coconut Island.  Hey Marvalee, how you doing?

 

      Ruby Kitt is based on an actual psychic that read me. I am not a New Age guy in any sense of the word but my experience with Miss Kitt left me realizing there might be more to this world then we can see, smell, hear, touch and taste. My mother did not kill herself but she died way too young. She left a wounded and grieving family of six children and one lost father. She has never appeared to me in a vision but lives inside of me and talks to me every day. I miss you Mom.

 

      Jess, Jay and Jewel are based on three of my siblings and are as true to my experience as I can be. I have tried to paint both sides of a very complex picture. Jess is based on the sister I was once closest to. Jess has gone the way of the old man; bitter and estranged from almost everyone she was once close to. I have tried to repair the bridge that crosses between filial boundaries but that conduit must be repaired from both sides. As of this writing, I am stalled halfway over the rivers of reconsideration and healthy relationships.

 

      Henry St. Clair is based on my father Herbert Henry Stover. Henry is somewhat of a villain in the book. My father was no such thing. He was a proud man, a complex man but he Loved all us kids in the only way he could. I am happy to say by the time my father died, he and I were very close. In fact his message to me from the grave told me he Loved me as much or more than any of my siblings. Thanks Dad. I miss you too.

 

      I have been estranged from my family since I published my first book, The Road Runner / An American Odyssey. One Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, I was home for my thirty-fifth high school reunion. All my sisters, nieces and nephews were having dinner at my brother’s house. I of course was not invited. And so I ate Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of drunks and homeless at an alcathon at my mother’s church in Brockton Mass. It was one of the most rewarding Thanksgivings I have ever had.

 

      Later Jess told me, “You’re lucky you didn’t come, it was just like the old days with all the drinking, yelling and screaming. Sometimes, I just hate this family.” Ah, the Fightin’ Irish.

 

      As Groucho Marx wrote to the members of the Friars Club in Beverly Hills, "Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member.” I wear this family unit separation like a black-ball badge of honor. Why would I miss all that family rage? I do not.  And to paraphrase Jack Nicholson, “They can’t handle the truth.”

 

      I wish them all well. They are gonna need it.  In their cases the misanthropic apple did not fall far from the misogynistic tree.

 

      And while it is true that six employees of TJ Maxx perished on Flight 11, I did not know any of them personally. I have used the real names of those who were killed and I sincerely hope this has not caused further grief to their families. I salute you for your courage and I cannot imagine your grief.

 

      Both the Los Angeles City Mission and the Midnight Rescue Mission were written from firsthand experience. While it is true I was not in the WTC when it was hit, it is true that on Labor Day 2008, I broke my neck while surfing. I was briefly paralyzed and unable to work for four months. When I was finally able to work, the recession was in a full tilt boogie. Like Jack I lost five years of clean time (the previous relapse was due to over-medicating after a hernia operation) and had gone almost twenty years without a drink. After my accident, I lost my house, business, cars, dogs and girlfriend. Ah but that is a story for another book.

 

      The Los Angeles Rescue Mission does not exist. There are several Christ-based recovery programs in downtown Los Angeles. I did stay at one of those for almost seven months and I did relapse after my bunk mate repeatedly offered me his cancer driven pain pills and I was kicked out of that Mission.  I did not await the anti-Christ and I am not anti-Christ but all of the case workers and Chaplains are based on people I observed.  My Chap was a good guy who truly believed in Jesus Christ and those Christ based Missions do good charitable work and continually help turn many men (and women’s) lives around. It was just not for me. I find the Religious Right too extreme in their judgmental and absolute beliefs. Of course once the Rapture happens and the Devil roams the earth, I may be sorry, sinner that I am. Pass the red calf please.

 

      The Midnight Rescue Mission is based on another Mission where I stayed.  Once again, I do not wish to appear anti-Mission or anti-anything. The Midnight Mission gave me my sobriety (sobriety first), hope, daughter and life back. Izzy is based on Clancy Imislund, a selfless old man who has helped thousands and thousands of people. Clancy is worth more, not only to the Midnight Mission but AA’ers in general, than a million passings of the basket and a hundred thousand 4th Steps. I write these words as I sit at my austere desktop computer on the 3rd floor of the Midnight Mission, one day away from having yet another one-year chip. However, I have no Internet. What’s another word for Spartan? Go to the Public Library, hit ‘synonyms’ and there they are: ‘Frugal, basic, simple, severe, plain, oh yeah and austere.’

 

      People like Reverends Simpson, Johnson, Trinny Lopez, as well as Rod Hardy and the Brick do in fact exist in our Missions and society. These types of men will always intimidate people; people trying to start over from a shattered life. But if they are determined enough to get better, no matter the cost to their pride and ego, not even misanthropes like these guys can stop them.  Power corrupts and all that.

 

      Shortly before entering the Midnight Mission, I stayed at my doctor’s house for two nights. Due to my many fist fights (and my brother’s unrelenting hands) I have a partial bottom bridge. The day before I entered the Midnight Mission, my doctor’s fucking dog ate my fucking partial while I slept. For two months I walked around the Midnight Mission with no bottom front teeth. You want to get humble in a hurry; try this. I am happy to say that after two overwrought months, “I got my smile back.”

 

      I have tried to be factual throughout the book. Truthfully research accounts for as much time in writing a book as imagination. To paraphrase Thomas Alva Edison, “Writing is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.” Without initially meaning to, I have written about many of the vital issues that face us as a society today. Among them; dysfunctional families and student radicalism which sadly to say like Disco, the Rubik’s Cube and pet rocks are things of the past. I do applaud the efforts of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy LA and others however. Maybe it is time for us all to speak up once again.

 

      In this book, I also tackle among other issues; AIDS, the ecology, alternative and established religions, homelessness, sobriety, drug use and anti-depressants, 9/11 and its aftermath and people living in their cars and out on our streets. Most of my books are 100-120,000 words. As of this writing, Love Rescue Me is 244,00.  I guess you might say I am passionate about many of these issues. But perhaps a bit long-winded and preachy as well.

 

      Rosie St. Clair is based on my beautiful daughter Katy Stover to whom this book is dedicated. Katy did indeed live with me all through high school and did indeed put herself through the University of California at Santa Barbara, graduating with “highest honors” and a 3.94 GPA. She also attended the prestigious Sciences PO in Paris France once again, putting herself through this renowned school by means of scholarships and grants; in some cases awarded to her due to my non-existent income and diminished capacities. I couldn’t be prouder of my little girl. Currently she is a high school math teacher at Ballou, an inner city school in Washington DC, teaching for the incredibly important Teach for America Foundation. This compassionate apple surely did not fall free from my liberal tree.

 

      Jack’s relationship with Rosie is based on my life experience with Katy. And like Rosie, after I was hurt and “out there” she did what she had to do to survive. For several years our contact was kept to a minimum. The Christmas story with Rod Hardy is all true and for the first time in Katy’s life, I was not able to spend Christmas Eve with her. I was able to meet her for Christmas dinner, which she cooked for me. These days Instead of Katy Stover being John Stover’s kid, John Stover is now Katy Stover’s Dad.  I am happy to report; we are a loving father and daughter once again. And I am so fucking happy about that. It seems Katy has rediscovered her old man ain’t so dumb after all.

 

      And Diane? Well there is (was) no Diane Dante. Diane was born of loneliness and remorse while living at the Midnight Rescue Mission. One day as I was working security providing one of the many meals served to the poor by the Midnight Mission, I thought I saw an old girlfriend.  It wasn’t her but it got to me thinking, “What if two long lost Lovers ran into each other while standing in a food line at a downtown mission?” Always looking for a story line for a new book, I got to thinking; “I know, a Love story set in a Mission.” From there Love Rescue Me began to take shape.

 

      Before I knew it Jack St. Clair had a troubled past and a limited future. I had mapped out the basic story line and in my original envisioning I had planned on killing off Emma, thus giving Diane an impetus towards her extreme devotion.  Some tried to talk me out of this and ultimately unlike with Chet, I was not able to kill off the Lovely and talented Emma du Barry.  Instead I used Diane’s loneliness, longing and despair as her motivation. I am so glad I did. And many thanks to Amy Axelrod for her help and suggestions.

 

      Sure I have been in Love a time or two but as of today no old girlfriend has appeared to “save” me. But perhaps one day. One day soon?  My Starlady knows where to find me and they know who they are. I really can’t believe this but I have been celibate for almost two years.  Man, how does that happen? You might say I am not too fucking busy these days and vise versa.

 

      Common Cents my second book was written when I owned my clothing company City Garment Finishers. I was a frequent donor at both the Los Angeles and Midnight Missions; donating money, time and clothes. Several times I hosted a table with my wife and six other friends raising thousands of dollars. Common Cents / A Civil War Story compares homelessness to slavery and was written from the outside looking in.  Love Rescue Me is also about homelessness but is written from the inside looking out. Ain’t life a kick in the pants sometime?  Sometimes life turns on a dime bag.

 

      Surprisingly enough this book was written an hour at a time on the public computers of the Midnight Mission and Los Angeles libraries. After I had been at the Midnight Mission for 90 days I was allowed to have a desktop computer, which enabled me to write for six or seven hours a day, albeit it without the Internet or a thesaurus. Whenever I wrote something that needed to be spell and grammar checked or researched, I made notes.  Later I would look things up (such as song lyrics or a Shakespeare quote) at one of the Los Angeles Public Libraries.

 

      And while I am on the subject, the Public Libraries of our cities and towns are not only a place of research but also havens of refuge for many poor, displaced and homeless people. The magnificent Central Library in Los Angeles (just ask John Fante) is a place where an indigent man (like myself) could go for a few hours, take out books, CD’s, DVD’s and log onto one of the many public computers to check e-mail, watch porn, listen to music and perhaps post on their Facebook page. I applaud those facilities and the indomitable will of those who survive on our city streets.

 

      One of the gifts of my extraordinary circumstance is the chance to know, on an intimate level, many of the homeless whom I had the good fortune to come into contact. You might be surprised at the level of education and experience some of these people have. Many have mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and kids of their own. I have met doctors, teachers, lawyers, soldiers, tinkers, tweakers, tailors and spies. Alcoholism and drug addiction know no cultural boundaries. Ode to the Nickel was written as a direct response to all the time I spent in the Mission Courtyard.

 

      I think maybe the reason this book goes on for as long as it does is because I was reluctant to write the ending. Scenes like with Mama Joy, the Miranda Miracle and the events with young Timothy were this writer’s way of avoiding the inevitable. Those characters were not planned.

 

      The book ends where it ends due to its length.  I had written another 10,000 plus words when I went back and changed the ending.

 

      I am now well into this continuation if the Jack St. Clair saga.  In the new book, We are Family, I continue with many of the characters introduced in this book.  We get to see the further development of Jack and Rose St. Clair, Diane Dante St. Clair, Stone Will Walker, Emma du Barry, Connor and Juliet Ames and Anna Pena.  This one should be done in another year.

 

 

      This book has been as much an escape as a catharsis for me. During those precious hours when I was lost in Jack’s world with all of Jack’s wasted talent and opportunities, I was creating not only a haven from my thoughts but also a world where always turns out fine.

 

     Love Rescue Me is my Gulag Archipelago, my In the Belly of the Beast, My Mein Kampf.

 

      Love Rescue Me was written while in exile in another type of prison; a downtown Mission. And while the comparison to Hitler is frame of reference only, like the mad despot I wrote this book while somewhat imprisoned.

 

      I have no idea how things will turn out for me. I write this in my little room at the Midnight Mission with less than $20.00 in my pocket.  And thanks to my old buddy Doc Gray for that.  Doc is one of those rare people who would actually take the time to continually inquire how I am doing.   He sends me newspaper clippings, keeping me informed on which rock musician or celebrity died, or who are still writing (recording) as well as the local weather in Kansas City along with a much appreciated $20.00 every couple of weeks.  You have no idea how welcome those manila envelopes are.

 

    These days like Jack I have hope. And if you have hope and you have a dream, all that other stuff is so much easier to bear.

 

     Right?

 

     And did you get it? Did you know that it was Darryl Lorenzo who drove the narrative? I toyed back and forth with whose voice would tell the story but as opposed to a ‘fly on the wall’ it just makes sense it would be Delo. I mean it’s funny how the circle turns around. Delo was with Jack from the beginning and now once again at the end.

 

     And to those of you who have gotten this far in this seemingly endless book, thank you for your attention. I urge you to go out today and tomorrow and live your life like there might not be a tomorrow. Because you never know when that next wave is going to take you down and if (and when) it does if you will be able to get back on that intangible surfboard we call life.  But if you do get back up and grab that seventh wave….

 

     It like Takahashi say, “Fall down seven times, get up eight times. Now finish tea.”

 

 

John H. Stover

    The Road Runner

 

Written at The Midnight Mission

On Skid Row

Finished on September 22 rd, 2012

  Sobriety date; September 23rd, 2011