Halfwide

by Teddy Jones

Overview

Maybe it's not fraud; it's probably not a felony, either. But, going along with her husband's latest adventure, a road trip on which she is to impersonate a visitor in several West Texas hospitals, makes Dorothy Faye Bell feel like a criminal. The trip's events cause a storm of emotion which clears only after she finds a person she had forgotten, or never really knew, herself. Hers is a story of the search for purpose in midlife, spiced with West Texas characters and her own brand of humor. Her part in Harold's scheme is to justify parking their only dwelling, a twenty-eight foot travel trailer, on the hospitals' visitor parking lots - free - by posing as a visitor. That's no surprise - he always has some odd scheme underway. After thirty-three years of marriage, Dorothy Faye does what she thinks a good wife should. She quits her job as a care attendant, packs her New York Times Crossword Puzzles book and not much else, leaves their home of twenty years, and hits the road, smiling even when she's irritated. This tale of two West Texans' journey in Summer, 2000 takes the reader into hospital waiting rooms and other unlikely places where some of the people she meets benefit from Dorothy Faye's "visits." The story traverses the dual arcs of Dorothy Faye's and Harold's quests. He searches for answers to his secret health concerns and she for a purpose other than being Harold's wife. She finds her answers. And Harold continues being Harold.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780615668444
Publisher:	Lofland Literary Editions
Publication date:	09/10/2012
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

Teddy Jones lives and writes in rural West Texas. No single incident or specific person prompted the story of Halfwide, but rather the accumulation of experiences and observation, much of it gained in her years as a nurse and nurse practitioner. In those roles she observed many people in the midst of health care crises and marveled at the ways in which they cope. Often the greatest help to anyone in crisis is someone who listens. And in general, the resilience of people, many of whom are very similar to Dorothy Faye and Harold, reminds her how important continuing growth is to one's health and well being. Plus, the attitudes and speech patterns of West Texans, which she finds oddly enchanting, challenged her to capture in Halfwide's characters some of the qualities that make those Texans interesting. She enjoys populating her fiction with strong women whose humor and determination sustain them.