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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Stay or Go?

PART ONE: THE TREE

Runt

Spark

Begin Again

PART TWO: THE BOY

Killer of Flies

The Invitation

Gravity

It Is

Climb

Bit by Bit

Bed of Black

In Between

First Ones

PART THREE: THE MAN

Clay and Rocks

It

Seeds

Sovereignty

Blackberry Rose

Inklings

PART FOUR: THE MAN AND THE TREE

The Spade

Digging

Roots

The Cave

Root-bound

Wisp of Green

Terrarium

Black Water

PART FIVE: THE BEGINNING OF THEM

The Room

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FORWARD

We were gathered around a fire having a late-night family conversation.

“You almost died” they said.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t know this story do you?”

“No” I answered.

So, they proceeded to tell me.

“You were in coma for twelve days and we read you last rites…”

It was not the first time that someone in my family had told me a story of me that I did not know. Thinking that I had had experience integrating similar stories into my life, I shrugged it off. However, when I started writing another book – a book on my pedagogy – the story they told me kept intruding.

So, in January of 2017, I dedicated myself to trying to tell the story they told. It came out as a myth with these illustrations. But, I have yet to finish it. The story kept asking for more and more from me. More time. More emotional introspection. So much more that I started screaming in my sleep. Then the characters stopped talking to me. I stopped working on it in August of 2017.

I am just now taking another look at this story (I’m writing this on May 12, 2020). I think it’s fair to say that some of the chapters are good. And, some are still in need of some work. So, this is a living story.

I’m starting to hear the characters whispering to me again. So, I have confidence that I’ll begin again.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far. – shawn