The Kingfish Way

Rob Wood

Description

Phil Fish, aka Kingfish, is about to find out he has a lot to learn. He's just an average guy who can't seem to catch a break. Life's not turning out the way he'd hoped. Until, that is, he gets some valuable advice from a mysterious lady and her tiny dog.

This advice leads Phil to meet a prophetic mechanic, a dreamer on a four-wheeling beer cooler, an Asian named Bubba with a penchant for rock necklaces, and other memorable characters while he discovers what he should be when he grows up.

The Kingfish Way explains the journey we're all on and how some of us have gotten off the path. The cast of characters in this wildly entertaining tale will make you smile and remember what your dreams once were and maybe – just maybe – how you can make them a reality.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Développement personnel
• développement personnel
• Inspiration
• personal Growth

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 11 mai 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780982906514
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE
KINGFISH WAY
 
ONE MAN'S ESCAPE FROM MEDIOCRITY
 
 
ROB WOOD

Sharkstone International, LLC
Published by Sharkstone International (USA)
P.O. Box 6
Freeport, FL
 
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Library of Congress Control Number: 2010911455
Wood, Rob.
The Kingfish Way – Rob Wood.
 
Cover Design by
Nemanja Vlaškovic´
 
All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.
 
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
 
Copyright © 2011 Rob Wood
All rights reserved.
 
ISBN-13: 978-0-9829-0651-4
 
 
Published in eBook format by Sharkstone International
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com


 
 

 
For Dr. Tonia Shatzel , the one person who said “Other than your inability to hold a constant thought for more than thirty seconds, and your inability to sit still for more than five minutes, and the fact that you don’t know the difference between a noun and a verb, I think you might be able to write a book.” Thank you for kind of believing in me. I love you too.

 
 


 
 
From the Author
 
I’ve always enjoyed working with college-aged kids, mostly under the age of twenty-five. Bright-eyed and eager to take on the world, they were easy to coach. “Set goals, get a plan, love what you do…” was my standard message. Some of it took, some of it didn’t.
The idea behind The Kingfish Way came to me as I saw middle-aged people struggling each day with their careers, their families, and their lives. Life had become difficult, tiresome, and not much fun. These people had good jobs, nice families, and plenty of money, but they were miserable. I watched jovial, interesting friends turn into angry, venomous shells of their former selves. Why do we put ourselves through such pain, I wondered?
So I read just about everything I could get my hands on regarding this behavior and what we could do as individuals to turn things around. Book after book, I found the solution. It went by many names, but the message was the same: Be in harmony with your desires . As we age, our desires change, and if we don't tend to those changes, we will soon find ourselves drowning in monotony.
This story is about a man who lost his harmony (and his way) and what he did to get it back. It’s a simple read with a serious message. Maybe, just maybe, some of it will take.
 
Let the journey begin…
Rob Wood
 
1
Why can’t I ever catch a break?

“Some people are so fond of bad luck they run half way to meet it.” ~ Douglas William Jerrold

 
 
The blaring of the alarm clock startled Phil out of his slumber, sending his heart racing. He groaned, never bothering to open his eyes as he rolled over and slapped his hand fruitlessly in the direction of the noisy alarm. Knocking over the lamp, he eventually managed to silence the offending appliance. “It can’t be Monday already!” he lamented to the empty house. He lay in the dark for a few minutes staring at the ceiling, delaying the inevitable. Sighing, he rolled out of bed and immediately tripped over his shoes, colliding with the nightstand and sending the lamp the rest of the way to the floor. “Damn it!” he shouted, gingerly picking his way out of the broken glass. “Why does this always happen to me?”
Phil sighed as he stepped into the shower. He was barely aware of the warm water on his skin as pending projects ran through his mind. He was behind with the accounts payable project, even though he had worked on it for four days last week. Every time he thought he was finished, his boss wanted to make another change, or discovered some data he had forgotten to share with Phil. “Every day a pain in the ass,” Phil sighed to himself, shaking his head as he dried off. “When I get that job in the front office, things will be better.”
An hour later, finishing his morning routine, he was ready to leave for work. Phil looked on the night-stand for his keys but didn’t find them. Scratching his head, he picked through the broken pieces of the lamp, expecting to find the keys hidden in the wreckage on the floor. He glanced at the clock and groaned. “Friggin’ keys!” he screamed. “I’ve got to find a spot to keep my keys!” Searching frantically, he realized he was going to be late if he didn’t find them soon. Phil picked up everything on his desk, looked under books and in empty coffee cups, even checking the trash can. In a rage, he glanced down at the desk, his eyes lighting on a book. “Organize Your Life: Never lose anything again!” The title taunted Phil. “Organize this!” Phil screamed, picking up the book and heaving it at the wall. The book bounced off the wall and knocked over an old coffee cup on the desk before it hit the floor. Coffee dripped down the side of the desk and onto the carpet. Phil groaned again, turning his back on the mess, and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He decided to call a friend for a ride. Flipping through the numbers on the phone, he glanced up and noticed his pants from yesterday crumpled in a heap next to the bed. He hastily reached into the pants pocket, closing his hand around the keys and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and smiling. Moments later he was in the car.
Glancing at the clock, Phil thought he would make it to work just in time. As he turned out of his driveway, he realized he had forgotten his briefcase. “Damn it!” he screamed through the open car window, “Every day a pain in the ass!” He swung the car around in the middle of the road, cutting the corner of his driveway and running over the flowerbed his ex-wife had planted years ago. “Damn flowers just keep coming up every year,” he grumbled to himself.
Rushing out of his driveway for the second time, Phil narrowly missed his neighbor, Mrs. Gumby, as she crossed the road with her little black dog. Phil shook his head at the sight. “Crazy lady treats that dog like a baby,” he grumbled under his breath. When Phil had moved into the neighborhood ten years ago, Mrs. Gumby brought him a pie and offered to help unpack. He had never returned the favor. In fact, he hadn’t spoken to her since that day.
Phil punched the accelerator and glanced at the clock. “Please don’t let there be any traffic this morning,” he snarled, gripping the steering wheel tightly. If he took Main Street instead of the highway, he might be able to miss rush hour traffic. Pulling onto Main Street, he immediately came to a dead stop. “Do you people think this is a parade?” screamed Phil at a car full of “Blue Hairs” out for a morning ride. “Throw some candy out, why don’t ya?” Phil leaned out the window, shaking his fist at the car. The car full of seniors pulled slowly out of the way, apparently unaware of the problems they had caused. “There should be a law to keep these old biddies off the road!” Phil fumed.
It was eight-thirty, and Phil was late. He slunk into his office and found his desk covered with messages. He sighed, setting down his briefcase and reached for the first note.
“Phil!” Phil jumped at his name, and returned the note to the desk, looking over the top of the cubicles to the end of the row. Steve waved, hurrying down the aisle between the cubicles toward Phil, obviously eager to speak with him. Steve had been at “Winder Auto Deliveries” much longer than Phil had, almost his entire life. He always talked about jumping on one of the delivery trucks and finding something better. Just as soon as he saved enough money, he always said, he was gone. Steve had been there thirty years, and everyone was used to his whining. Phil thought it was sad, the man seemed so miserable, but never did anything about it. There was no way Phil would ever live his life that way.
Steve spoke excitedly as he walked toward Phil. “Kent came in here this morning looking for you, and he was in one of those moods.”
Phil’s heart skipped a beat, realizing his supervisor was the source of all the messages on his desk. “What now?” Phil wondered.
“He was looking for the deliverables from last month.”
“He knows I always turn those in on the tenth, Steve.”
“I know, but I’m telling you, something’s up. That man’s as busy as a one legged cat in a sand box!” Steve laughed to himself as he continued down the hall toward the water cooler.
Phil took a breath and headed down the hall, dreading the meeting.
Two hours later, Phil returned to his desk. He found a bottle of aspirin and took two tablets without bothering to get any water. He had spent the entire time with Kent, poring over stacks of reports and interpreting data, the purpose of this analysis a mystery. He had never been asked to crunch the numbers to this level of detail, and he felt like something might be wrong. Turning on his computer, he spent the next hour compiling the data into a spreadsheet and then forwarded the document to his boss. Phil let out an audible sigh, hoping that would keep Kent happy for a few days.
It was lunchtime, and Phil made his way to the break room to join his friends. He had forgotten to make a lunch at home, and fumbled in his pocket for a few dollars to purchase a sandwich out of the vending machine. Steve monopol