The Journey

About the Book

The story begins in the projects of the South Bronx, New York. There we will meet Sarah Williams, a single mother of twin girls Michelle and Miranda and son Jason. The Williams' family struggles to break the cycle of poverty in the face of gangs, drugs, and prostitution. Jason, the youngest attemtps to assert his role as "man of the house," but is overwhelmed by the task at hand. Thinking that he is just one more mouth to feed, he leaves in the middle of the night and begins his life on the streets of New York city. We follow Jason as he negotiates his new world. With the thought the he will some day be reunited with his family he makes clandestine visits to the project to see if Sarah and his sisters are still surviving. On one such visit he discovers that they have been driven from the apartment and their whereabouts are unknown. Desperate, alone, and hopeless, Jason decides to end his life in the cathedral for the homeless, Grand Central Station. Under a stairwell, hidden by the shadows, Jason lies dying as the blood drains from his body. He is alone in a horde of thousand of commuters. Rescued by his former basketball coach, his journey begins.

About the Author

Bernarad Ritchen grew up on Long Island, New York. He Received a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Davis & Elkins College and a Master's Degree in Education from Long Island University. He was an officer in the United States Nave and worked as an administratot Stony Brook Medical Center for 20 years. He presently is a guidance counselor at South Lake High School in Groveland Florida. He and his wife Aleta live in Leesburgh, florida. They have one daugthter who presently resides in New York city.