The Long Journey To Christmas:
Charles E. Borjas, Charles Edward Borjas
Paperback
(Independently published, Dec. 21, 2016)
He was an aging retired U.S. Marshal. He lost his first wife to childbearing, his second to another man and then a bullet. Two daughters were adopted and divided, whereabouts undetermined. His third beloved wife died of Typhoid Fever. He lost his two oldest sons in the Great War between the Union and the Confederacy, and his oldest daughter, a nurse in that war, went missing. He lost a young son in a horse riding accident. Retired and disheartened, having moved to the East Coast his remaining children were left with relatives, the older ones to fend for themselves. Diagnosed with Cancer at 60, he sets out to put his life back together, and his family too. Cage decides to go back to his ranch that his son is running and be there in time for the following Christmas. Loved unconditionally by a woman twenty years younger than he, she being unequivocal and unbending insists on going with him no matter what. The journey is a life changing one with its enchanted and miraculous moments. Then throw in a little spiritual fantasy in the form of a few ghosts or angels, and then several little miracles and one huge one, some godly worship, a few exotic pets, one that talks, one that just stares, and one that is man’s best friend. Don’t forget the love that passes the boundaries of your mind and compassion that reminds you there is a reason to live, and then, even though you are stuck one hundred and forty years in the past, you love living in it. The life is slow, the nature is untouched by machines, the wildlife is plenteous. The people you meet aren’t always kind, but most of them are and they’ll have you over for supper. They’ll feed you with beef, or turkey with gravy, and potatoes and corn. They’ll make sure you’re well fed and rested before you continue on your way. But there will also be those who try to take it all away from you at the point of a gun. But you’ll have to fight them off and get the hell out of there and keep going on your journey in the Conestoga. The schooner of the west.