Downtown / Uptown

Life's experiences seldom change without a human struggle and a nudge to move them along to where we can freely admit, "We have made a tangible progress in our lives..." In this novel titled Downtown / Uptown we find the principal character, Tom Martin, who is an individual that has been nudging his fellow man with various levels of success. In Tom Martin's case we perhaps see ourselves and how we would like to change the world around us. There is, however, an exception to this rule that manifest itself throughout his life, while he struggled to be true to himself and provide the basic comforts for his family. Outside forces from his distant past are constant reminders of his vulnerability while disrupting his community and threatening those family members he loves. Tom Martin is no stranger to us. To meet Tom Martin it would be like meeting one of our neighbors. He's always well liked, at times; he's always faithful to his religious beliefs, at times; he never speaks ill of anyone, at times. Tom Martin only has a few requirements that he expects everyone to follow as he does every day of the week. Tom Martin is in his retirement years and has returned to live at the old family farm. Understandably, in his rural community he is at once beloved for being stubbornly fair-minded; and despised for abiding to his personal perception of common law. There is also lots of subtle humor sprinkled through out the dialog while certain issues will challenge the readers to reflect about our past and current events. As in all human calamities, eventually things do get out of control for the characters and life as we know it. And by the way, at this point it's also when Tom becomes aware that death is unfair, inevitable and... all hell breaks loose! ~ ~ I loosely took the liberty to set this story in a rural setting after spending several summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. At the time -- and being originally from Italy -- I soon became infatuated by the wonderful people I met deep in the local backwoods' and those many others who lived in town. Their guarded hospitality contrasted with my background and made each summer a most welcomed experience away from the multi-cultures of south Florida and New York City, where I first spent my early years in the United States. The farm house in this story it's from memory as I recalled the very same at the end of a long gravel driveway, just off the main winding mountain road. There was always a man sitting and rocking in a chair on the front porch; he seemed lonely, dressed in coveralls pants and plaid blue long sleeved shirts. I never met him, but to me at least, he was Tom Martin. He became the nucleus for this story and the other characters became alive during each consecutive visit there. Once I had them all safely inside my head, I began to write. The story line is in part based on what I learned locally, and when we took our children on warm evening to buy ice cream cones and root beer treats at a near by makeshift convenience store - the mountain's information hub. Our nearest neighbors lived on a family farm with timber acreages about five miles from us; Mr. Seth was 87 when we first met and retired. Part of his immediate family was buried just a few hundred yards from his front porch among their past generations. Once I was accepted as a neighbor, they trusted me to visit the graves in the woods and I realized that five generations had been buried there; Mr. and Mrs. Seth had their joint Georgia gray granite gravestone already set in place, and all that was needed were their mortal remains and the final dates. I hasten to say that this story it's with all due suspect, not morbid. In fact, once you read the first few pages many of you may find yourself saying, "...Tom, that is exactly what I would have done!" or after reading further some will pause to reflect, chuckle, and ask, "...Is that how it really was not so long ago?..." ~ Giovanni