Chapter 1
"Carter! Get in here!" Andrew Long bellows from his home office.
A fifteen year old Carter dashes in in fear of what he has done wrong now.
"Yes father."
"What the hell is this? You call this journalism?" He throws the papers in Carter's face.
"I'm sorry sir, I will rewrite it right away." Carter scoops up the scattered papers.
"You say you want to be a journalist, and yet you write garbage like that? I wouldn't even print that in that women's trash your mother reads!"
"I'm sorry sir." Carter lowers his head.
"I want the rewrite on my desk first thing in the morning!"
Andrew Long. A loud, barrel of a man, that will have his way or there will be no way. He owns the second largest newspaper in Chattanooga and has 2 books accredited to his name. He also has several awards in journalism.
But as a father, he is severely lacking in the father of the year awards.
Carter has long aspired to be well known as a journalist as his father. He wins awards in school for his short stories, but they are childish nonsense to Andrew Long.
He had an older sister that left home at seventeen and has not been heard from since. She once said that she refused to live in tyranny.
Carter's mother is a quiet, docile woman that had learned her place in the Long household long ago. A devout Christian, which she exposes Carter to weekly. She has only stood up to Andrew twice that Carter recalls, both with dark results.
Carter always enjoyed going into town with his mother. She was always so happy, talking freely to the people around town, being the woman she cannot be at home.
When he was just a young boy, they came upon a man sitting at the bus stop in front of the grocer, playing a guitar and singing softly. There was just something about the man, something comforting.
Carter would find himself seeking the man out on their weekly visits to town, just to hear the music and the man's soft voice.
Upon leaving his father's office, Carter rushes to his room preparing to rewrite a story about a gunship from WWII, a story assigned to him by his father. Details about the ship are obscure and very difficult to find. Most of his resources come from his school books. But Carter knows that it is mostly in the wording.
There is a light tap on his door as it slowly opens.
"I thought I would bring your supper in here. It sounds like you will have a late night." She smiles softly, setting the plate on the corner of his desk.
"Thank you mother." she slowly runs her fingers through his dark hair.
"You need a haircut." she gently kisses him on the forehead.
"I love you son."
"I love you mother."
"Arabella!" Andrew Long shouts through the house. He sees his mother instantly stiffen at her name. She rubs her hand over his cheek smiling, and turns to leave.
"Mother." she turns back.
"Thank you." she quietly closes the door behind her.
At the age of seventeen, Carter is still playing the same game with his father, but now he no longer has the comfort of his mother. She passed over the winter, of pneumonia. Carter wrote her obituary, which his father gave no comment on.
But since the passing of his mother, his father has developed a heavy hand, along with a sharper tongue, which Carter is the brunt of more often.
Carter goes to work for his father immediately following graduation. He must learn the inner workings of the newspaper over summer break before he goes away to college, not knowing then, that it would play a big part in his future.
Carter is relieved when the day comes to leave his fathers scrutiny and home. He is more determined than ever to become a journalist, not to prove himself to his father, but his worth value to himself.
He quickly becomes an ace student, immersing himself in anything that could possibly be of value. Several literature courses, poetry, the writing of several plays for the drama courses, and writing classes that teach many different techniques.
After two long years, Carter graduates top of his class with several journalism honors for short stories that were published in a couple of different papers and journals. He has proven to himself that he is indeed a journalist.
While in college, he meets the lovely Averly Wilkins, the daughter of a local banker, not knowing then, that she too would play a big part in his life.
Reluctantly, Carter resigns to working for his father. Still not impressed, his father lords over his every piece of work. Soon Carter starts sending samples of his work to another newspaper, which quickly hires him. He works hard and earns a good living for himself.
Being closer to Averly, he visits her often, which over time, they fall in love and marry. Their home is modest and they are content with what they have.
Two years after marrying they have a daughter, Constance. The child is the center of their world. A year later Andrew Long passes, without ever meeting his only grandchild. Carter is the sole beneficiary of the newspaper.
Moving back to Chattanooga, Carter's life takes a new turn. He moves his family into the family home which is large and grand., but Averly is never truly comfortable there, it's too high end for her tastes, but she only wishes to be wherever Carter is.
Carter starts writing his first novel, when he is not busy with the paper. Many a night he would write while holding his daughter in his lap, every moment spent with her was precious to Carter. He could never imagine his life without her.
His book sells and they plan to celebrate their good fortune. Averly and Constance are coming home from a shopping trip, when Carter's life is shattered.
A mile short of being home, they are killed instantly by a drunk driver. Carter shuts down completely, eaten alive from grief. His reason for living has been torn away from him.
He enters a deep depression and starts drinking, isolating himself in his home and that's where he stays for over a year. Friends and co-workers are constantly knocking on the door and ringing the bell, but he just ignores them. The bills are all past due with threats from the debtors.
One night he is rambling around in the house and enters his parents room for the first time since moving back into the house. He walks around looking at nothing in general, until he finds his mother's Bible laying beside the bed, with a light layer of dust.
He sits on the bed and slowly opens it to where a small red ribbon has been placed. There is a small slip of paper between the pages with two scriptures written on it. Carter slowly reads them.
Psalms 34:18- The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Matthew 11:28-30- Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
A tear splashes on the paper and Carter begins to pray. He lays back on the bed holding the Bible close to his heart and cries for all the pain in his heart.
He wakes the next morning with a light heart. Rising from the bed, he lays the Bible back on the night stand and goes to leave, but he stops. he turns around and picks it up smiling.
"Thank you mother." The Bible never leaves his side from then on.
"Mr Long?"
Carter walks into the newspaper with his head held high, a new man with a new heart.
"Good morning James. Could you please call for a meeting in about an hour?" Carter smiles brightly at the older man.
"Y-yes sir, right away!" and the man rushes away.
At the meeting, Carter announces that he will be selling the paper. It will be joining the paper that he had once worked for, but it will remain operating at that location. Everyone's jobs are secure, there will be no lay-offs.
Now to decide on what he will do with his life.
Carter is watching the news one evening, as he eats his dinner. A report of an upcoming execution is broadcast. A young man in his twenties, is to be executed for the death of two men. Several protesters are filmed outside the courthouse. It's relatively old footage.
Carter wonders if the young man was indeed guilty of the crime. The protesters are adamant that he is innocent. Carter notes the name of the man and his location.
Max Howard, in Brentwood Tennessee.
The next morning, Carter packs up for the three and a half hour drive. When Carter arrives, he heads straight to the courthouse.
