As It Happened-Groundwork

About the Book

As It Happened is a trilogy. Groundwork is part one. It depicts the childhood and teenage years of Alistair Benning Farrington and takes us from Alistair’s beginnings in small town Douglas Corner, Florida to the beginning of his college years. This series of short stories offers insight and subtle understanding into the many lives of family, friends and strangers during times of rapid change in this unique place. The different stories are meant to stand alone or entertain and inform in chronological context. There are heroes and villains, victims and perpetrators, endless humor and bundles of fun, joy and sadness, all elements of Alistair’s beginning journey. Alistair Benning Farrington beat the odds. He started learning early and later got to be part of the highest institutions in the land, earning awards and honors along the way and it all started in Douglas Corner. As many of my modest background and generation, he had my sound beginnings in a special small town. He was raised in a the kind of place that encouraged kids to adhere to family and community norms, roam, explore, experience adventures, learn, grow and develop. More than most of his peers, Alistair followed the prescribed path and managed to experience some measure of prosperity. Two or three of his peers rode with him on separate paths right to the top. Several of his compatriots rejected family and community norms and went off the rails completely. Most of the fellows he knew, however, followed the community’s growth and development plans as expected. They experienced lives of limited challenge, but generally entered adulthood as reasonably happy people. They all started from the same place and experienced highly interesting, occasionally painful, mostly joyful, always imaginative, completely full, irresistible, fun and totally informative journeys. Alistair speaks warmly and occasionally painfully of his growing up in a large blended family. He was nurtured by the presence and guidance of his father’s large family: Twenty-five siblings- three girls and twenty-two boys. All of his uncles had at least a starting football team of children, except for Uncle Fred and Daddy. His paternal aunts were more limited in the size of their broods. Aunt Ernestine had three children. Aunts Rosemarie and Esther had five each. Alistair’s mama’s family was far smaller. His mother was the oldest child and had no living brothers by the time Alistair was born and of her three living sisters only Aunt Alecia bore more than a few children, thirteen to be exact. Aunt Earlene had one son and Aunt Jocelyn had none. Within a radius of twenty-five miles Alistair could count over three hundred aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, their spouses and children. Family reunions were more like conventions than family gatherings, because there were so many of them and hundreds attended. Alistair’s mama was a widow with four girls when she met his daddy. Together they had Stanley and decided to make major improvements on the whole lot and had Alistair, the delightful, glorious, handsome and wonderful son, baby of the family. All four of his sisters were married and living independently by the time I was born or became old enough to know who they were. He was an uncle from birth. The town of Douglas Corner had a population of less than ten thousand. It was considered a congenial, mighty hamlet that sat on the banks of the St. Marks River. St. Marks is a famous river. It is the largest river in North America that flows north. In the shallows of the St. Marks were thousands of cypress trees along the many miles of shoreline. The knobby cypress knees stuck up all over the place just above the water line, providing hiding places for some of the biggest fish known to mankind. In and around the cypresses of the shallows could be found a few stalking grey, beige and white herons standing tall and still, staring obliquely at fish just beneath the wa

About the Author

Bernard J. Fennell was born in Florida before the beginning of the “Korean Conflict” or Korean Police Action.” He came of age and was molded by the Eisenhower era and “New Frontier” years. He was a keen learner from an early age, developing an interest in foreign affairs while quite young. He developed an active sense of humor, ranked first in his class during his public school years; highly competitive in most matters; class valedictorian, state spelling champion, basketball MVP, average football and baseball player, uninspiring musician, Harvard graduate, Peace Corps Volunteer, diplomat, speechwriter, agency spokesperson, corporate executive, and writer.