At the Top of the Lighthouse

James C. Kingsmill

Description

The lighthouse is the symbol of the bond between Scott and Jeff. From coming of age through adulthood, it represents the strength of true friendship.
Scott Taylor and Jeff Fahlman live on a small barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast and have been best friends since early childhood. Scott's family owns the local bait and tackle shop and lives in the house right next door. Just a mile across the way, Jeff if in the fourth generation of the Fahlman family to live in the old keepers' quarters on the property of the Karankawa Point Lighthouse. The top of the old lighthouse is a special place for the boys. As kids, they would meet and play, and as teens, they would hang out and escape the pressures of school, family, and life. The lighthouse stands on the west end of the island in the small community of Karankawa Point, which is just across the bay, and a twenty-minute ferry ride from the mainland. While the physical distance between the island and the mainland is only three miles, the bay is a chasm between the lifestyles of the islanders and the mainlanders. When tragedy forces Scott's family to move to the mainland right before his first year of high school, the friends' lives are forever changed. As Scott tries to adapt to his new life on the mainland and Jeff remains on the island, they struggle to keep their friendship together. Throughout the triumphs and tragedies of their lives, the battle to keep their friendship alive always seems to find them back together at the top of the lighthouse.

Sujets

• Adventure (Guyana)
• Adventure
• Fiction
• Action

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823006811
• Langue: English

Extrait

AT THE TOP OF THE LIGHTHOUSE






JAMES C. KINGSMILL








AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]






© 2023 James C. Kingsmill. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/26/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-0682-8 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0680-4 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0681-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023907463






Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Books Cover Arts are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Deposit Photo .Cover design by Ivan Zanchetta, Books Cover Arts ©

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.



Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.



CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Reflections
Chapter 2 Last Day
Chapter 3 Across The Way And Back
Chapter 4 Change From The Wind
Chapter 5 A New Life And Old Ways
Chapter 6 Day Of Running And Day Of Reckoning
Chapter 7 Pomp And Circumstances
Chapter 8 Brother’s Keeper
Chapter 9 Different Paths
Chapter 10 Generations
Chapter 11 Fury And Foolishness
Chapter 12 Decisions
Chapter 13 A New Kind Of Storm
Chapter 14 Running Into Trouble
Chapter 15 Four
Chapter 16 The Final Climb
Chapter 17 Setting Sun




Writing a book is something that I have aspired to do for many years. The idea first came to me when I was taking a creative writing class with Dr. James Ulmer at Houston Baptist University. I am eternally grateful for his advice, support, and encouragement in college and beyond.
I would also like to thank Ms. Pauline Hitt, my senior English teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas. She taught me to appreciate literature and was one of the best teachers I ever had.
Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Louis Markos, my English professor and fraternity sponsor at Houston Baptist University. His passion for teaching was infectious and was very inspirational to me.
My love of literature and writing would not be possible without these amazing teachers.
I would not have been able to complete this work without the help and support of the following people:
My wife, Deborah Kingsmill, for her content editing, advice, and encouragement.
Terri Cook, for copy editing and proofreading.
Betty Simms and Michael Asbill, for their technical advising.
Kathryn Barber, for her constant encouragement.
My son, Jacob Kingsmill, for letting me share my ideas with him.
My high school friends, Bruce Hales and Laurel Pawelek, for allowing their sons, Matthew Hales and Daven Pawelek, to be the cover models for the book.



Chapter 1
REFLECTIONS
October 2014
S COTT SAT BEHIND THE WHEEL of his car and waited patiently in the long line of vehicles at the loading dock of the ferry, waiting for the deckhand to motion him on. His wife, Christina, sat in the passenger seat. Their two sons, Bryce and Brett, and their daughter, Brandy, were in the back seat. Christina reached over to gently touch her husband’s hand. He stared ahead absently, a glazed look on his face.
“Are you okay, Scott?”
“No, not really.”
The car behind him honked, drawing him out of his trance. He saw that the ferry deckhand was motioning for him to load. With an apologetic wave he drove on slowly and eventually stopped in the second from the left lane of the four-lane ferry, three cars back from the front of the boat. He put the car in park and sat there. The children in the back seat were chatty as always, but the couple in the front sat in silence. Scott looked over at his wife, but his gaze fell just beyond her. He saw that they were on the ferryboat William B. Travis.
“I can’t believe this old boat is still running.”
One of the deckhands approached the car and knocked on the driver’s window. Scott lowered it.
“Sir, please turn off your vehicle.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sorry,” he said to the deckhand. With another apologetic gesture, he lowered the rest of the windows just enough to allow a breeze to keep the car somewhat cool and turned the car off. He then looked over at Christina and said, “As many times as I have driven a car on this thing, you would have thought I would have remembered that.”
“Well, you are a little distracted today, and rightfully so.”
Within about ten minutes, the ferry was completely loaded and ready to make its way across the bay to Karankawa Island. The horn blew to give the all-clear signal, startling Scott, who had fallen into deep thought once more during the loading of the ferry. The engines revved up, and the boat slowly pulled away from the docks. The ferry landing on the island was a twenty-minute ride across the bay, located in the small town of Karankawa Point. To call it a small town was giving it too much credit. Karankawa Point was really an unincorporated community, a census-designated place with a name that wouldn’t be recognized by anyone who wasn’t local.
“I’m not ready for this,” he said to Christina.
As the ferry started its slow trek across the bay, the kids started to get restless. Passengers could get out of their vehicles and walk around during the short trip across the bay, but today’s weather was not accommodating. It was exceptionally windy, and the bay waters were choppy, making for a rough ferry ride. Christina tried to get them to behave without raising her voice and aggravating the already morose Scott.
“Kids! Let’s look for the lighthouse.”
“The lighthouse,” Scott mumbled. “You know, Jeff could tell me everything about that lighthouse,” Scott said to no one in particular. “He could tell me when it was built. He could tell me the history of all the hurricanes it had survived. There wasn’t a single fact he didn’t know. He especially loved looking at pictures of the lighthouse through the years.”
“Well, it is the most prominent feature on the island,” Christina added. “When we moved down here, I read books about the area, including the island. There’s a whole chapter about the island’s history and it mentioned the lighthouse. It doesn’t say much, but it does say that it might be haunted.”
“I’ve been inside that lighthouse many times, and I can assure you that it’s not haunted. Maybe it has a history of being cursed with a little bad luck, if you believe in curses, but if it is haunted by anything, it might just be by continual bad names,” Scott chuckled.
Christina looked confused. “Would you please explain?”
“Four generations of John Fahlmans have lived on that lighthouse property. John Edward Fahlman, Senior, John Edward Fahlman, Junior, John Edward Fahlman the Third, and John Edward Fahlman the Fourth. They all lived on the lighthouse property.”
“Wow! So, they all lived there? That’s a long time for one family to be on a property.”
“Let me see if I can get this straight like Jeff told me. His great-grandfather, John Edward Fahlman, Senior was the last lighthouse keeper. He became the keeper in 1919. I can only remember that date because it’s an easy number to remember. The lighthouse was decommissioned at some point in the early 1930s. I don’t remember the exact year. When he was no longer needed as the keeper, John Senior bought the two houses and the lighthouse at an auction and his family has lived there ever since. He had a son named John Edward, Junior, but he was always called Junior. His son, Jeff’s dad, was John Edward the Third. They called him Johnny until he got older and started going by John. Then there is Jeff, who is John Edward Fahlman the Fourth.”
“So, Jeff’s given name was John Edward Fahlman the Fourth? I never knew that. Why did he go by Jeff? I sense there’s a story there.”
“Yeah, actually Jeff is an acronym. If his mom could have picked any name, it wouldn’t have been John. She got tired of all the Johns, Juniors, and Johnnys. So, J for John, E for Edward, F for Fahlman, F for Fourth, and you have Jeff. I don’t think his dad liked it much, but his mom made sure it stuck.”
“Makes sense.”
“Nothing makes sense.” Scott’s somewhat animated telling of the history of the lighthouse and the Fahlman family had fallen flat. Christina could tell she had struck a nerve.
“What do you mean?”
“Why would a family want to live on a lighthouse property for four generations? Why would anyone want to live on this island at all?”
“I don’t know,” Christina replied. “You must admit it is unique, and I guess for some people, living on the island is a way of life. When it is the only life you’ve known, maybe it isn’t so bad.”
“I guess so. That makes sense for Jeff’s family. The Fahlmans’ history with the lighthouse can be a bit confusing. I think this is how it goes. The elder Mr. Fahlman lived in the main house. When the lighthouse went dark, the assistant keeper, whoever that was, moved out and moved on, but Mr. Fahlman stayed and went to work for the state as a ferry deckhand. When Junior, Jeff’s grandpa, got older and had a family of his own, he moved into the assistant keeper’s quarters and also went to work for the state highway system as