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    A Fool's Journey: Book III, The Empress
    A Fool's Journey: Book III, The Empress
    A Fool's Journey: Book III, The Empress
    Ebook65 pages42 minutes

    A Fool's Journey: Book III, The Empress

    By Mark Pannebecker

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    About this ebook

    Eighteen-year-old Benjamin Porter is solitary, brooding, and insecure after the betrayals by his best friend Craig Marse (the Magician) and then a year later by his girlfriend Joan Ponti (the High Priestess), different sides of the same coin. He finds solace hibernating in the winter months escaping into books and doing menial labor like shoveling driveways. But in the spring, when Benjamin meets Emma Patricce, the head ornamental horticulturist at Patricce’s Nursery, his journey takes a decisive turn. Em is an older woman, sensual, earthy, and confident in her surroundings. Working with her, Benjamin discovers his true character again as her nurturing, supportive, and genuine friendship brings him out of his ennui and self-loathing. It should be no surprise that by fall, Ben is in love with her. But the first woman Ben has ever loved can only cultivate his spirit so far; the rest is up to him. Ben’s journey sits at a crossroads and his destiny may rely on Em Patricce more than he realizes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMark Pannebecker
    Release dateJan 2, 2018
    ISBN9780998724331
    A Fool's Journey: Book III, The Empress
    Author

    Mark Pannebecker

    I'm an author of literary fiction and the founder of the St. Louis Indie Book Fair.I'm trying KDP for Book V, The Hierophant and Book VI, The Lovers, so those titles won't be listed here. You can go to my website or Amazon (www.amazon.com/-/e/B00TI17DO8) for copies. Thank you.

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      Book preview

      A Fool's Journey - Mark Pannebecker

      A Fool's Journey

      Book III, The Empress

      by

      Mark Pannebecker

      Copyright 2017 Mark Pannebecker

      All rights reserved

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this Ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your continuing support.

      Developmental Editor: Tina Farmer

      Content Editor: Blythe Terrell

      Copy Editor: Carye Moses

      Cover Art and Author’s Photo by Sarah Clayton

      Special thanks to Sarah Clayton for her support

      and Sarah Marchant for her assistance

      Table of Contents

      I

      II

      III

      IV

      V

      VI

      VII

      Book IV, The Emperor

      About A Fool's Journey

      About Mark Pannebecker

      I

      Benjamin Porter lay dormant that winter of ‘79, slipping into personal isolation. When it snowed, he forced himself outside and found solace in the lone act of shoveling driveways—first his and then his neighbors’. When parents sent out one of their young boys to help, he’d welcome them with a wave, but after shoveling a few passes, he’d move to the next house, pushing his snow shovel on the sidewalk etched with the names of neighborhood kids. Occasionally an old neighborhood friend would come out and join him, but they’d want to talk too much, and he soon found himself skipping those driveways he’d played on as a child.

      When he wasn’t shoveling the driveways on his cul-de-sac for free, Ben crawled into books. He enjoyed Stephen King’s stories, with Salem’s Lot leading him to Stoker’s Dracula, which led him to Shelley’s Frankenstein. Then King’s The Stand led him to other apocalyptic novels like Orwell’s 1984 and A Clockwork Orange by Burgess. He read more fiction that winter than he had during his entire adolescence. For Christmas, his mother gave him The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy because she’d heard from the clerk at Waldenbooks that it was a comedy.

      For a while, his parents sent him off on regular errands just to get him out of the house, where they hoped he might accidently fall into a social situation, maybe meet a girl working the counter. Ruth once joked that if he got into a fender-bender then at least he’d have to talk to somebody. But William Porter, being a quiet man, didn’t see anything wrong with his rambunctious child toning things down, so he did nothing to try to draw him out. And all attempts by Ruth to do so were met with skepticism by Ben, who felt they were insincere. He neither embraced nor rejected her perceived concern of his eudemonia. Just something Moms are supposed to do. Just like people who ask how you are but can’t stick around for your answer. Just something people do. So when she’d ask, How’re you doing today, honey? Ben would simply answer, I’m fine, and that would be the end of it.

      When spring arrived, Ruth Porter decided to start a vegetable garden. And so on the spring equinox, she enlisted the help of her son.

      Ben, she said while making breakfast one morning, can you pick up some railroad ties for me today? I want to make a space for a vegetable garden.

      Sure, no problem.

      Is there a friend you can call to help? Ruth knew the answer but hoped she was wrong.

      I don’t think so. Ben knitted his brow. I really don’t,

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