Oliver Henry

Oliver was Walter's latest masterpiece - a journalist with a dark past and a shady present in need of salvation. Walter had observed a student of his - an oversexed poli-sci undergrad who had that feel about him, that icky feel that he would treat women poorly in private and never match up to the hopes his mother had for him, yet still might be a brilliant political writer or even a local politician who would marry some dimwit supporter. Either way, Walter observed the way this student interacted with others and what he wrote about - it was a short fiction class and said student chose the sexy macabre genre for his playground, cheap entertaining plots poorly crafted, without a real sense of an educated reader. 


Soon Oliver was born - a national journalist on the lamb from himself, holed up in a po-dunk town to forget his life, ashamed of all the mistakes he had made and of his childhood. Oliver's father left him and his mother after his sister was born - little Mabel, a sister with Down Syndrome. The mother struggled to get by and cope with the weight of such a life taking care of two children, one more demanding, and, after an unfortunate accident, the sister - sweet, precious Mabel, is gone. The mother is charged with murder and off goes Oliver to a life of foster parents while mom writes from prison. Oliver's professional life leads him to the sin of sex addiction, and, one night he leaves his life, cash in hand, for the town of M----------- somewhere in the Midwest. He spends his time as a mechanic and gets to know the local scene pretty well, including an all too mature 17 year old who eventually forces him back to reality, leading him on assignment to Africa, where he then saves a woman from being stoned. That's where the real story starts, Walter knew. And that's where he left off, months ago, when Jacob was far from death.