The Gates of Pair O’ Dice

A fortune cookie of a novel filled with timeless healing wisdom wrapped inside a touching coming of age story set during 1967’s Summer of Love. My full christened name stretches out to William Gates Waters, but everyone just calls me Billy. I’m about to tell you one of my family stories. By the grace of God I’ve lived into my last sixties now, my biological sixties, so I’m a sexagenarian. This story happened in my first sixties, the 1960s, down in Pair O’ Dice, Texas. This tale I’m telling, primarily concerns itself with my recovery from a family tragedy, and secondarily with my coming of age: the first time I almost had sex, the first time I actually did have sex, and the first and only time I ever fell in love. Just after I turned fifteen my dad killed himself, and I turned my back on God. I was lost, all turned around, and never would have found my way back to God, if I had not met Jessup, an enlightened being, way different from what I expected mind you, but an enlightened being all the same: sometimes profane, and often profound, equal parts cosmic cowboy and Taoist dude, a carpenter and a fisherman, who loved meditation, Qi Gong, 100% blue agave tequila, sweet Mexican sinsemilla, ice cold Lone Star beer, rock & roll, a hooker with a heart of gold, and Texas high school football. You wouldn’t call the Summer of Love in 1967 a perfect time. Too many good young men died in a bad war called Vietnam. Racial tensions reached a boiling point and riots erupted in cities all across America. But we felt a healing spirit, a can do feeling in the air convinced us that we could change things, and make the world a better place for our children, and grandchildren. Now, in 2017, on the 50th anniversary of 1967’s Summer of Love, we must somehow rekindle that flame. If the spirit moves you, maybe it’s time to believe we can still… Embrace Change, Cross Rivers, Climb Mountains, Go Fishing, Laugh at Life, Believe in Miracles, Rock & Roll, Breathe Deeply, and Love Unconditionally.