Chuck Fair

Toil & Time Chuck Fair

One ignored word, STOP, created an unwanted life and changed three lives in unwanted ways. A bitter mother, on her own, does what it takes to survive. A disillusioned father, rejected and separated, clings to livelihood. An ignored child, surrounded by indifferent parents, recruits imagination to be his mentor. From WWII through the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars and into the toughest war of all----the Covit19 attack----eight decades describe a life of what could be and what could not be, expectations shattered, hope diminished, and a never-down-for-the-count spirit caught in between. A world-wide war enlists an Ohio farm's siblings, stationing them in the world's far reaches: Born at the end of WWI, Jane is fresh off a dirt farm and its toilsome and endless labor. She escapes the farm, falling into the arms of the wrong man. The protagonist, Sunnyboy, escapes reality's toil, plunging into illusions. He had the tools to make his mark in the world----looks, brains, and drive; but struggles to overcome his unwanted beginning. He roams outside the American Dream, ill-equipped to enter. Born in a turbulent time and dying decades later in a turbulent time, Sunnyboy struts through his prime, stumbles through midlife, and surrenders to life's final reality.