Writing

There is much truth in the movie. The dialog, the attitudes, the laws, the houses and decors of the two sides of this story are all spot-on. I saw and heard nothing that jarred me out of that era.

I was a terrible student.

I rarely did homework but somehow slid by with Cs and just barely advanced from grade to grade. What homework I did was driven solely by fear of a teacher’s wrath but, over time, my skin grew thicker with each passing year. “Homework time” was spent alone in my room with doors shut as I worked on hobbies or reading Science Fiction.

On Saturdays, Dad would sometimes go to the hospital to see a couple of his patients. And sometimes he would take me along.

East encompassed kindergarten through senior high school. The elementary, East Elementary School, had the right half of the building while the high schools, junior and senior collectively referred to as East High School, had the left. I started there with kindergarten and attended for twelve years but at the end of my eleventh grade it was clear that something had to change. My grades were dismal and only with summer school was I advanced to the twelfth.

The near-wealthy lived in Chickasaw Gardens just a few blocks from Picardy.

Some things change, some don’t.

Synopsis

In this international thriller, Blake Spencer is a trouble-shooting software engineer on paid assignment in Wuhan, China. Hired to teach two five-day seminars at the University, between the two sessions he goes geocaching on the weekend and stumbles into a gruesome murder. Ready to run, his Chinese girlfriend who hired him to teach the classes and, at the last minute, accompanied him on the trip, convinces him to stay and complete his contract.