One of Us - Paperback

by M. M. Short (Author)

We've all needed a second chance at one time or another. Sometimes we may even turn a corner in our life when one comes along. Jonny Morris is a hotshot reporter for a small town newspaper. His life revolves around Lorraine, the love of his life, playing softball, drinking beer and listening to loud music. But Jonny's world comes crashing down after his breakup with Lorraine. It affects him everywhere from the job to the ball field. One weekend he is expecting to travel to Three Rivers Stadium to cover a crucial three game series between the Pirates and the Nationals. But a sudden call from his editor sends him to a hole-in-the-wall town and a house on Story Road to cover a memorial service for a World War Two veteran. There he comes face to face with the past. During the interviews, Jonny discovers that the men were all in the 2nd Rangers who assaulted Pointe Du Hoc on D-Day. There is a noticeable tension among the members in describing events linked to battle. There are two other vets in attendance, both from the 2nd Rangers and a young man who tells Jonny that a fourth member of the group comprising the "Four Horsemen" was his great uncle, who has passed away. That's when Jonny finds himself trying to connect dots that won't connect. In time his drinking gets out of control. He gets into fist fights on and off the field and his assignment becomes an obsession, a near frantic search to find the real story that lies buried behind his routine interviews and standard writing conventions. But his drinking and his frustration over a "story that won't write" leads to nightmares of battle, blood soaked killings that went down in a war that was fought before he was ever born. Jonny's failure to come through for his editor finally leads to trouble at work, When his drinking and fighting, his failure to produce the writing become too much he is let go by Ron Faber, senior editor and owner of the newspaper. Faber, also a combat veteran, agrees to help Jonny run leads down th