Magic Spit

About the Book

Army Captain Len Adam, a West Point graduate and a medical evacuation helicopter pilot in Vietnam, was injured when his craft was brought down by mortar fire. He was sent home to be mustered out of the army because of injuries suffered when his aircraft was struck by mortar fire and crashed in the jungle. As he exited his flight in L A, he was met by a group of antiwar protestors. A girl in the group, a senior at UCLA, walked up to him and spit at him. The spittle landed on the toe of his shoe. He bent down and wiped it off with his handkerchief. When he stood up, their eyes met. She sensed the pain in his eyes from what he had been through, and he sensed the remorse she felt for the vile act that she had done. As they stood gazing at each other, they felt that their spirits connected, and each felt that energy passed from each other. He turned and went on to catch a flight to his next destination. The girl, Joan Swift, turned and ran to the nearest restroom to weep for what she had done. Len hears the group call her Joan as she ran away, but that is all he knows about her. From his nametag, she knows his name is Len Adams. She leaves UCLA immediately and returns home to Houston, Texas, and enrolls in the University of Houston to finish her degree. She begins searching for Len to apologize to him. He has no idea how to search for her. The army balks at giving her information about Len. Although Len has a degree in mechanical engineering, he does not feel that he is in any condition to be an engineer at this stage, so he signs on with a high school friend who now has a custom harvest business harvesting grain all the way from Texas to the Canadian border. Follow the trail of this couple as their spirits strive to reconnect.

About the Author

Dale McMillan grew up during the Great Depression in deep East Texas on a poor small dirt farm. It was there that he learned how to live off the land from his parents. After graduating from college, he spent many years in Houston, Texas, working in the Petro Chemical Industry in a research environment. Now retired, he has moved to a small farm in Henderson, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Janell; son, Paul; and three granddaughters, Claudia, Maggie, and Isabella. Mr. McMillan is a member of the East Texas Storytellers Guild and the East Texas Antique Tractor and Engine Association.