Friday, October 10, 2014

Incessant Expectations by Kenneth Fenter: One inexperienced young man 
and two women.
       Jim Howard works on the family farm until he is 22 years old. He attends the small one room grade school. In high school he withdraws when he is taunted by the other students for his lack of social skills. He shows a aptitude for art and during the winter months attends a state college where he excels but because of his high school experience of rejection when he attempts to date, he does not try to date any of the girls he meets in his fine arts classes.
    On the farm he works for his room and board. There is never enough money left over for a wage. At his age he reasons that if he did find some one to date he wouldn't have a means to court her or to support her if they got serious. At the beginning of the novel, Jim is contemplating his future as he tends his new crop. All is growing well on an early June day. He takes a break and takes a nap. He dreams. In the dream he is fishing on the ocean. His wife is a beautiful blond woman. When he awakes he knows she is the woman from an advertisement from a magazine. By that night his life as he knows it is shattered. The farm must be sold or the bank will take it.
    A month later he is working with a partner at Winchester Bay, Oregon as a fisherman. Each morning he is waited on at the Sportsman Cafe by Hattie. Most evenings when he comes in he visits The Fisherman's Hideaway where he is served Iced tea by Mary. She brings him his supper from the adjoining cafe, is concerned about the condition of his hands, and rubs salve into his cuts and callouses from that's day's fishing. They both visit with him and for the first time in his life, he is not tongue tied with a woman. 
    Hattie begins to put notes in the lunch box the Sportsman Cafe prepares for Jim and his partner Charlie. She slips in a an extra treat, an apple, or a candy bar. 
    Mary tells Jim that if he ever gets his boat and begins living off the river, carefree and his own boss, she just might go with him. 
    The first date in his life is with Mary.
    The second is with Hattie.
    Hattie is affectionate but has restrictions on what is future can be.
    Mary won't hold his hand, but she applauds his free choice in what he does and encourages it.
    Jim Howard must learn about the vagaries of the Pacific Ocean to earn his living, he also must learn in a short time about the fair gender the things that most young men have learned throughout their teen years. 
    He and the two women he is attracted to aren't sure he is up for the challenge.

Royalty Free Photos licensed through Dreamstime.com

More on Incessant Expectations and other novels by Kenneth Fenter on arborwoodpress.com
Incessant Expectations by Kenneth Fenter available in print and e-book on Amazon.com

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