At age 77, Burgaw native pens first novel filled with love, war and intrigue
Burgaw native Everett Durham, at age 77, has concocted a multi-generational tale of love and war in his first novel, "That Bottom Step."
It's the fall of 1970 in little Cowan, somewhere in Southeastern North Carolina. Gus Johnson Jr., a high school senior and football star, has finally screwed up the courage to ask cheerleader Aggie out on a date. (The bottom step on her parents' house is where they first kiss.)
Nature takes its course, and shortly after Gus ships out for Navy basic training, Aggie discovers she's pregnant. Gus does the right thing and comes home and marries her as soon as he can get leave, but the young couple barely has two weeks together before Gus ships out to be a medic on a hospital ship cruising off Vietnam.
One day, in an emergency, Gus volunteers to fill in for a wounded Army medic on a medevac helicopter. The 'copter explodes, and Gus is killed in action.
With the help of her parents and in-laws, Aggie puts her life back together, raising little Gus and landing a good job as a secretary in a prosperous lawyer's office. Her son, nicknamed "Gus 3" (his Grandfather Johnson is Gus Sr.), becomes an active, healthy boy, a talented golfer, a high school athlete like the dad he never knew and an honor roll student. In fact, he lands an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy.
Even before he graduates from West Point, though, Trip, as he's now known, is called to volunteer for a secret mission somewhere in Central Asia. Not to give away too many spoilers, but the plot recals old Hollywood swashbuckler "The Prisoner of Zenda."
The only catch: For all sorts of important reasons, the government must fake Trip's death. Not even Aggie knows that he's really alive, and Trip's widowed mother must sit through a military funeral for her only son.
Durham cheerfully admits that he is "basically uneducated," although he attended the U.S. Military Academy preparatory school while in the Army. Still, that lack of experience shows in "That Bottom Step."
This is a homemade craft book. Durham can take three chapters to cover what professional writers would handle in a few sentences. Characters dominate for dozens of pages, only to disappear from the text without explanation. While Trip's mission is summarized in a few paragraphs, whole pages of plot are devoted to speculation in fictional real estate. This is not Brad Thor, nor is it Robert James Waller.
Still, Durham comes up with a couple of good plot lines and starts with appealing characters. There are signs he might be plotting a sequel. If so, it will be interesting to see what comes of it.
Book review
'THAT BOTTOM STEP'
By Everett Durham
DER, Inc. , $16 paperback
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Burgaw native Everett Durham pens first novel That Bottom Step at 77
