Settling Accounts

About the Book

Charles and Vivian Whitney may, in reality, be just an ordinary older couple living out their sunset years in the relative obscurity of a small West Virginia town. But, what happens to them is totally unexpected. On the surface, theirs is an ordinary life. But, like the cover of a book, the surface doesn't encompass the reality of the experience. And, as one of Shakespeare's characters once remarked in a play long since forgotten by these two persons, "there's the rub.@ Married at age twenty, forty-five years before, Charles and Vivian, known to friends and family alike as "Chuck" and "Vi," have survived where many have dashed their hopes and dreams of marital bliss upon the stony shoals of inevitable incompatibility. Truth be known, Charles and Vivian abandoned any hope of entering such a "promised land" as might have been envisioned by parents and grandparents on their wedding day long ago. Unlike marriages that place their inhabitants upon a roller coaster ride of emotional ups and downs, "Chuck" and Vi's" marriage was more like a carousel. Round and round they went through the years passing from bliss to disillusionment to dysfunctionality to incompatibility back to bliss to disillusionment and so on. Their marriage never seemed to go anywhere save in circles. Both are retired after raising three children of the turbulent "Busters" generation. Now this couple can only look back and wonder, sometimes aloud to one another or whoever would listen, where they went wrong? Worse than this, their existence lately has degenerated to a loosely formed tolerance of one another's presence. Yet, family and friends describe them as "soul mates." Such is the sign of our times when communication devices are everywhere and no one seems to be listening to anyone! Into this life no longer filled with expectation comes an unbelievable sequence of events that transforms both of them and everyone they know. It begins with a software package that promises Vivian the opportunity to learn more about her family history. An excursion away from her family history into her husband’s quickly uncovers a mystery that eventually catches both of them by surprise. As the story of a missing part of Charles’ family tree unfolds, a number of accounts get told, retold, and eventually settled in this intriguing story about family life in America, past and present. Settling Accounts sweeps across some of the darkest days of our nation’s history and brings to light that old adage repeated time and time again in sports of every kind, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over! This story will bring a smile to every reader’s heart as each is invited to a new appreciation of family and all of our roots.

About the Author

JACK SEVILLE is a retired ordained minister from western Maryland who is a published novelist, poet, essayist, and photographer. In his career as a minister he served as a local pastor, a seminary professor, a national denominational staff person, and an area minister. Seville lives with his wife Fanny in Bismarck, ND. His previous two novels are entitled THROUGH HIS EYES ONLY and SOMETHING DUE.