Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
How did I end up in Union, Missouri, in the first place? I'd always been attracted to big cities, and during my youth I can remember fooling myself that I'd actually get the hell out of here. That never happened. Through the years Union became the place I called home. Once you've put your roots down, it' very hard to pull them up to move on. Union is where my roots are. This is home.
Union, Missouri is a small town fifty miles southwest of St. Louis. Take Interstate 44 west of the city, and the St. Louis suburbs quickly give way to smaller communities. Union is one of those small rural communities—far enough away from the city to avoid the crowds, noise, and confusion. Pollution in Union has never been a problem. Look up at the sky on any clear night, and you'll see stars so clear and bright that it's sometimes hard to believe they're real. Union is a rural town, a small town. Like the town itself, its residents have aged. These days a small farming community like Union isn't booming, nor is it wealthy. But nor would I say the people in Union are for the most part poor; they just know how to make do. Generations of families on top of generations. The family trees of long-time Union residents are as long and wide as the streets in the old part of town. Union is the county seat of Franklin County, and the town square with its huge old courthouse acts as the centerpiece of town. The courthouse is rumored to have seen many hangings in its day. Old folks talk about families packing up picnic lunches to eat while sitting outside the courthouse, watching the bodies as they fell and went limp on their nooses.
The true history of a town like Union is always kept by the old. And Union has its secrets, just like any other small town. Historic? Of course it is, but you would never know of the history and battles that it's seen because most of the historic locations remain unmarked. Union, Missouri is a small town like any other, and I call it my home. I live here and I raised my children here. It's the place I'e worked, sang, and prayed. It's my home. For better or worse, this is where I've laid down my roots. This is my home.
I wish I could claim that I've led a fairy-tale existence in which good always conquers evil. Who wouldn't want that kind of life? Mine began that way, I thought. I had a happy childhood. I was born on January 3, 1965, in a hospital in St. Louis. Born to devout Lutheran parents, I was a large baby, twenty-four inches long. I spent my early years living in St. Louis County, in the city's northern suburbs. When I was eleven, my parents decided to leave St. Louis behind and move to the country, to Franklin County. As a city boy I always felt somewhat out of place in a farming community. We lived between the two towns of Washington and Union, right outside the small township of Krakow. My parents still live there, while I now live in Union.
