Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Dan. Be sure to check out About Phillip here.
Dan is a normal kid who loves his soccer. Except everything goes wrong. Everything.
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About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Dan Home) (Last) (Next)
Happenings
He pulled himself up off the floor and sagged onto the bare bed. His alarm clock said 7:23. He shook his head to clear it.
So much had happened over the past two weeks. His mind raced over the events.
He slept in his own bed the night after the funeral. Aunt Betsy stayed just a week. She put a full-court press on Dan to get him to go back to Manchester and live with her to be raised a proper Englishman. After all, she said, he had no more family here, conveniently neglecting Ed's role. He was tempted at first. She suggested he pray about it, and he had, quite a bit, but felt he didn't get any answer. But after he prayed her arguments sounded a lot less convincing. He told her he'd stay here and finish out high school. He wished he’d had some sort of answer to his prayers, though. He felt left out; he couldn't recreate that same sense of purpose he'd had when offering the prayer at the funeral. It was all very confusing to him.
Aunt Betsy was grumpy about his refusal to come to England but seemed to accept it. But there were other matters to attend to. As it turned out, Maria revised her will about a month prior to her death. She left everything to Dan in some sort of trust he didn't understand. But she gave half the equity in the home to Betsy. Given Boulder real estate values, the house was worth quite a bit more than she’d paid for it four years before. Betsy could not afford to continue to make the house payments, and anyway, Dan couldn't live there without supervision (though he didn't see why not). The decision was made, with Dan's grumpy acquiescence, to put the house on the market. He could continue to live there until it sold. The upside was that the sale would generate enough money for the trust so that he would have his immediate living expenses and his college education paid for. Where Dan would go after the house sold was an open question. As far as Dan was concerned, he was almost an orphan. He was not the least bit interested in his father.
His father approached the bishop several times in the days following the funeral on the issue of Dan's custody. Dan was adamant, however. He explained to the bishop what he'd found at Ed's condo that fateful Wednesday evening. The bishop managed to get Ed to back off, at least for the time being. Ed indeed sent one more e-mail to Dan. Dan let it sit in his inbox for several days until Peter finally made him open it. In fact, Dan had Peter read it first to be sure it was ok. In the short e-mail, Ed explained that he was indeed gay, that Mike was in fact his domestic partner, and that there was more to the divorce than met the eye. He said there are always two sides to every story, so even what he had to say was probably partly untrue, but he would hold nothing from Dan. He apologized for what Dan saw at the condo. He also said he hoped Dan would remain very active in the church. He also said he'd stop trying to force Dan to live with him. Lastly, he invited Dan to Christmas dinner.
Dan talked over the invitation with Peter for several days before deciding to accept. "What can it hurt?" Peter had asked.
Now that it was Christmas Day, Dan wasn't so sure it would be a good idea. He got up and hobbled over to the window to open the blinds. His knee throbbed. There was no snow and only a small breeze. He sat heavily and pulled up the pajamas high enough to pull the brace off and let it clatter to the floor. He examined the scars and tenderly felt around his knee. The outside of his knee was puffier and redder than when he'd last performed this examination. Something was not right. The daily therapy had plateaued. He had an appointment with Dr. Jones in early January.
Reluctantly, he put the brace back on. The day before he’d tried to walk without the brace and promptly ended up in a painful heap on the floor.
The first few nights after Aunt Betsy left, Peter found excuses to sleep over at Dan's. Finally, though, Dan had to sleep by himself. That was when he first dreamt of the big bird taking his mother away. He called it the "Sahara Dream," and now he’d tell Peter he'd had it three times, counting this morning.
Every day was a haze. By now, two weeks after the funeral, most of the kids at school had moved on, leaving Dan to fight the battle alone. The school counselor said that Dan should be very patient with himself. In fact, the counselor even set out day-by-day assignments for Dan to accomplish during Christmas break. He volunteered to meet with Dan halfway through break to ensure he was on track. He was two days behind.
It was not all doom, gloom and hard work, though. Dan met Cheryl for lunch every day. Sometimes Peter joined them. Dan even took Cheryl to see a movie. She didn't want to go with him at first. But when he insisted it was indeed public service—for him—she laughed and agreed.
Dan also found reasons to meet with Jerri, mostly at church. The Sunday after the funeral they skipped Sunday school to sit in the foyer and swap histories. Last Sunday, Jerri's dad invited Dan over for dinner. He accepted.
He hobbled into the bathroom. He was grateful the brace was waterproof since this allowed him to take a shower without help. He dressed and found the bag with the presents he'd bought and headed down the street against the chill breeze. The real estate sign in the yard flapped and made annoying clanking sounds. Dan pulled his coat tighter and gripped the cold cane.
Peter's family had been Dan's saving grace. Marilyn found an excuse nearly daily to come to Dan's house, just to "check things out," she said. Somehow she made up the difference between Dan's poor housekeeping and what was needed to make the house presentable for potential buyers. She tut-tutted about his kitchen habits and the way he kept his room but never made any real demands on him.
The Fawke's welcomed him cheerfully as usual. For an hour during breakfast Dan completely forgot all his cares. He smiled and laughed, just like old times. Later that morning he was occasionally pensive, but the Fawke's determined festiveness kept him going. Peter gave him an outrageous pair of black boxers with bright orange soccer balls and purple soccer players. Marilyn's gift was no more practical; a video review of last year's world cup soccer match. Jesse's gift was a tee shirt with large letters emblazoned across the front saying "What do you mean there's more to life than soccer?" Underneath the letters was a large picture of Dan holding a soccer ball. On the back, in Park colors, were the words "Cook," and underneath was Dan's number—six. Where Jesse got the picture and how he had the tee shirt made were all a mystery.
Just before lunch, Marilyn made everyone hush. She pulled out her old Bible and handed it to Dan. Peter was startled to see it and even Jesse looked unsure. Marilyn said that seeing as how Dan was a Mormon, Christmas Day would not be complete without a reading of the Christmas story. Dan was caught off guard, but Marilyn already had the Bible open to Luke 2. It was the Revised Standard Edition, not the King James Version he was used to, so he stumbled a bit. Dan thought he heard a catch in Marilyn’s voice as she said "thank you." Peter and Jesse looked at each other but there was no time for questions; it was time for lunch.
After lunch, Dan bade farewell. He picked up his cane and the bag with his presents. With many thank-you's, he headed out the door. Peter followed him to confide to him that that was the first time she'd used that Bible since his little sister died. He didn't know what it meant. Dan didn't know either.