In MY Wildest Dreams

Below is a short synopsis of one of my best selling e-book novels, a romance story that follows the story of Josh Whitley and the only two loves of his life. I think you will find the novel a very compelling read. It is available at:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Wildest-Dreams-Paul-Meredith-ebook/dp/B00ANQILIE/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 

 

In my Wildest Dreams

Synopsis

 

Joshua Whitley was a man working on his career goals when he met Julia Cusack in a lunch room one day. Julia was a beautiful young lady with career goals much like his. Yes, it was truly love at first sight for Josh, the name most people called him. Over time Josh and Julia became romantically involved and eventually married. They purchased the home of their dreams and started their family. However, their plan for life was soon to be derailed with an issue that was beyond their ability to solve. Life changed dramatically for Josh as his dreams for happiness spun out of control. Then an unexpected set of events in a family already marred with tragedy caused a change none in the family could have known would happen. Life for Josh went from being lonely, dull and boring, to a life filled with new hope and happiness for the future. In his wildest dreams Josh could never have planned what was about to happen to him, but it did happen. He met a new love in a place he never dreamed, and the rest as they say, is history.

            Was it fate that threw Josh and Dianne together at the most critical time of their lives? Nobody could know for sure, but it was a match that had to be made in heaven. From the time they were first together as a couple, it was almost magic how success came to the two of them, both in love and in their separate business ventures. Obstacles that would have stopped others from getting together were simply viewed as challenges to be overcome by Josh and Dianne. This is an epic story of how love can overcome almost any obstacle if the passion is present.

            Don’t think everything went smooth as silk for them though, because that would be a huge mistake. There is tragedy throughout this remarkable story, the loss of spouses, of parents, and even the horrible death of Dianne’s mother, all of which sent shock waves through this strong young couple as they struggled for success in life.

            Dianne made a totally unexpected career change when she realized she had seen in a vision where the body of a missing elderly woman was located, a woman she had never met or knew personally. When Dianne was questioned about how she knew of the location of the dead woman, her responses gave the local authorities cause to see a need to solicit her help in other unsolved murder cases.

            The story takes so many unpredictable turns it is difficult to write a synopsis that includes all the major parts of the story, but let it suffice to say the reader will be astonished by the unfolding of the story. It is a story that includes most of the elements one could possibly expect in a really great love story.

The New Year of 2016

Today is January 7, 2016. It is one of the very special days in the life of one of my beautiful daughters, Tara Lynn Meredith Inghram. It is her birthday today. Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

I am so lucky to have been able to raise all of my children to be such well-rounded individuals who have contributed to society in such positive ways. I am so very proud of each and every one of them.

My New Year started rather auspiciously, and not necessarily on a happy note, but I look forward to a great New Year with new opportunities to do good in the world. My wife and I are thankful for the blessings we had in 2015 and we look forward to more of the same kind of blessings in 2016. We hope for good health for us and for all our children and grandchildren and extended family members. We pray for peace in this very troubled world. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

The Evolution of Elizabeth Grant

The Evolution of Elizabeth Grant

by

Paul R. Meredith

 

The following is a very brief synopsis of my newest story, an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Imagine a six-year-old girl being taken from abusive parents and she and her three siblings placed in an orphanage.  What will become of her? It is not a pretty picture. But Young Teresa Harden endured and evolved from this rough start in life to a life beyond expectation for most people. Once adopted by loving parents, her life takes on challenges that most of us will never face. Her life as a young woman introduces her to life-changing events that caused her to live a secret and often shameful life for the middle years of her existence. Then after a happenstance meeting with a very special man, she feels she has to change her name and run away to save him. Years later after Elizabeth Grant is found by that special man, her life begins the evolution into a deep love and a life filled with treasures even she could hardly believe.

 

Here is the Amazon link to my book:

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Evolution+of+Elizabeth+Grant

 

Remembering the Great World War II

Remembering the Great World War II

 

I was ten years old when the greatest war of my life ended. The official date was September 2, 1945, but we first heard the news about two weeks before. I remember my mom and dad and a few close neighbors wanted to go celebrate the end of World War II in downtown Decatur, Illinois, my hometown. Red and Lil Fleming wanted my mom and dad to go downtown with them to see the big celebration that was taking place. One of my aunts watched the other kids, but Dad and Mom took me along because I was the oldest kid and had shown more interest in the war than the others. My twin sisters could have cared less about the war because they didn’t understand it. I think my Uncle Harley met us downtown near the square.

            Red Fleming, our wonderful neighbor just across the street had served in the U.S. Army Cavalry and saw active service in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He had been discharged and came home just a few weeks prior to the ending of the war. Red never told any us any stories about his war experiences, but we knew that he had been through hell over there. We knew he suffered some minor mental problems from what he had endured on the battlefield.

Red was a truly wonderful man in every respect. He had worked at Swift Ice Cream in Decatur prior to being drafted into the army, so when he was discharged, he went back to work for Swift again. He drove a truck that delivered ice cream to stores all over our part of the state. We loved Red because he brought a box of ice cream bars to the Meredith kids about once every week. We also loved his wife Lil and his dog Poochie. Red and Lil were childless, so they more or less adopted the Meredith clan, and we adopted them as our favorite neighbors. Poochie thought he was our dog a lot of the time because anytime one of us was outside, Poochie was there to play with us.

I remember we parked and walked two or three blocks to get to a spot where we could see the celebration festivities. We stood on North Main Street somewhere between Linn & Scruggs Department Store and the Lincoln Theater. People who lived in the apartments on the second and higher floors of some of the buildings were throwing paper confetti and making all kinds a racket with horns, firing shotguns, beating pans with spoons, and yelling. It was a wild and exciting time for a ten-year-old kid like me. A stage had been set up just across from the old Transfer House on the square and several people, I think including the Mayor of Decatur, gave speeches and made announcements that caused all the people to yell and cheer like crazy.

I think we stayed downtown for about two hours. I just remember I was really tired from trying to see through all the tall adults standing in front of me. There was a big parade with lots of military people walking down Water and Main Streets. There were also bands of all kinds and just a bunch of people following along singing songs. People were really happy the war was over and our soldiers, marines and sailors would all be coming home, except for the thousands and thousands who had been lost in battle.

On the way home, Red told me, “I brought something from the war back for you, Sonny. I’ll get it for you when we get back to the house.” I wondered what it could be, but as soon as we arrived back home, Red went in to his house and brought it over to me. It was a German soldier’s helmet that he had recovered in a fight somewhere in France. It was a black helmet with a big silver spike on the top of it. I treasured that helmet for many years, and sad to say now, I have no idea what ever happened to the helmet. My guess is that someone took it from our house. I hated that it disappeared.

Paul R. Meredith - Date: Unknown

Getting Caught in the Closet

Getting Caught in the Closet:

There had been a really bad car accident one evening up near Maroa. Several people were involved in it, and I heard one person was killed. I was called to the ER to help transport patients into and out of the wait area and in to the ER hold area. One of the women, a girl I knew pretty well, was a patient from the accident and I ultimately was called to take her to my floor to the female wing where she was placed in a traction for multiple broken bones. She was sleeping during the time I transported her after her initial surgery, so she had no idea I was helping her in any way.

The day following the accident, I went in to see her, but she was sleeping, so I didn't bother her. But the third day I went to see her, she was awake and feeling decent, so we talked for a few minutes. I explained I had brought her up to this room after her initial visit in the ER.

The girl's name was Allis. She was a senior at school just as I was. She was going steady with a friend of mine named Gene.  He had also been hurt in the accident but was taken to the other hospital in Decatur, St. Mary's Hospital. I never knew why, unless it was due to overcrowding.

While Allis was in the hospital on my floor, but down in the women's wing, I generally stayed over after I got off work at 12:30 to go visit with her for half an hour or so. After about the third or fourth day, we started kissing. I had her trapped in her tractions devices, because both her legs and one arm were broken, as well as her collar bone. She was really bruised up badly, but not so badly that she didn't enjoy the kisses. Eventually the kisses turned rather more passionate than before, so they progressed into more serious touches of her body (and mine). Of course the traction setup and her pain wouldn't allow much of anything further, but we still enjoyed the signs for the future when she would be released from the hospital, although there were never any firm promises for intimacy. She still had her boyfriend Gene to consider, as I did my girlfriend Karen. Karen and I had been going steady for a year plus, but I was growing restless with her. She wanted more freedom to move in her social circles than my six-day a week night job could offer. I knew the relationship would have to end sooner rather than later. I did not want to waste another birthday or Christmas present on her.

On the last evening I went after my shift to visit with Allis, we were really busy smooching up a storm, when what to my sensitive ears did I hear but the clomp-clomp of what I knew beyond any doubt was Mrs. Draggert's hard-heeled shoes. They were coming down the hall towards Allis' room. I quickly covered her up and jumped into the stand-up closet that was in her room. I barely could fit in the narrow closet, but I managed to squeeze inside just as Mrs. Draggert entered the room. She saw Phyllis was wide awake, so she went to her bedside and said, "Good evening, my dear. How are you feeling now?"

                Allis muttered something incoherently in response. I could not make it out clearly, but I could see through the narrow crack of the slightly opened door that she was sweating bullets. I think she might have said, "I am good," or something like that.
                Mrs. Draggert smiled at her and said, "That's good to hear. Now, I was really looking for my orderly, Paul. Have you seen him this evening?"
                "Whhooo?" Phyllis said.
                "My evening-shift orderly, Paul. You do know him, don't you?"
                "Uh, yes, we go to school together. He is in one of my classes at school."
                "So have you seen him this evening?" Mrs. Draggert asked again.
                "No, but I think he's off work by now, isn't he?"
                Mrs. Draggert said nothing more to Allis, but she turned on her heel and marched right over and jerked the closet door open and told me, "Step down out of there, Paul."
                I did, and she grabbed me by my ear and walked me straight down past the three nurses at their station as they stared in awe at me wincing in pain. We went straight to Mrs. Draggert's office where she tossed me in the chair facing her desk. "Now, I am going to give you exactly three minutes to explain to me why you were in that girl's room, what you were doing with her, and why I should not fire you this very minute."
                I was rubbing my ear as I tried to explain. "She is a good friend of mine from school. I was just seeing if there was anything I could do to help her."
                "Yes, and I could tell that you were attempting to do just that about the time you heard me coming, right?"
                "Uh, well, it wasn't exactly what you might think. We're just friends."
                "Very close friends I must assume, because I definitely could tell there was something sexual about to happen."
                "No, that would not be possible. She is in traction," I insisted.
                "Yes, and I must say it was skillfully manipulated so that you could crawl in bed with her. Did you realize we were about to bring a new patient into that empty bed beside her in a few minutes? The new patient was being prepped to go into that room with your friend. Do you realize what would have happened if they had brought her in while you were busy doing whatever you were about to do? You would have shamed the hospital, plus probably have cost several of us our jobs."
                "I'm sorry, but I really wasn't doing all that much wrong."
                "Oh but you were. So now tell me why I should not fire you on the spot, Paul."
                I sat there as I tried to think of an answer. "I won't do it again," I told her.
                "Oh, believe me, I can guarantee you that I know that," she said. "Now, again I ask, why should I not fire you right now?"
                I was very nervous, realizing it was about to be curtains for me and my job. "Because I am the best orderly here at this hospital and I have not missed one day in more than two years of employment. And besides that, my patients and my nurses all get along really well with me." I sat in silence while she gave me that special Draggert stare that sliced right through me.
                Then she spoke. "Paul, I am very, very angry at you right now. I am also very angry with Brenda and those other nurses for allowing you to stay with that girl like that. Don't you dare try to tell me they didn't know, because I know they did. I will not ever tolerate that kind of behavior from you or from any of them again. I intend to go speak directly with them tomorrow as soon as they come to work." Then she just sat there. Finally she told me, "Get out of here."
                I stood to leave, but I had to ask, "So, am I fired?"
                She stared at me again in that special way. "Did I say you are fired?"
                "I don't know for sure, but I don't think you said it directly."
                "If I didn't say it, it must not have happened. I will see you tomorrow.
                Man, I could not wait to get out of her office. She was a really mean woman. That is why I feared for what she would say to the nurses the next day. Everyone was petrified of her.
 

Allis and I never got together after that--not at the hospital or even later when she was released. I continued dating, but not with Karen. I had moved past her and found a new girl by then. Allis and Gene continued to date through high school and eventually they were married.

This continued my record of never having been fired from any job I ever had in my life. I came close a couple of times, but I always managed to salvage the situations somehow. This trend continued for the remainder of my life until now, and since I am retired, I assume it will be a lifetime of never being fired. Not too many people can say that.

Paul R. Meredith

2015

Bicycle Finance

 

Bicycle Finance

 

       Dad and Mom bought each of the twin girls, Marlene and Darlene, a new Schwinn bicycle for Christmas. They would be in their teens on their next birthday in March. I knew it was a real stretch for our parents to buy gifts as expensive as new bicycles, but they did it by saving up for a year. The bikes were a beautiful light blue color and even had battery-powered headlights on the front fender.

As for me, I already had a new Monarch bike that I had purchased with money I made from my paper route. I used my bike to get back and forth to school and to deliver my newspaper route.

       Although I made pretty good money delivering the newspaper, I figured I could always use a little extra money to buy neat things I might want. So I started using Marlene's and Darlene's bikes to rent out for short rides to other kids in our neighborhood. I tried to do it when the two girls weren't using them, but there were a few times I had to take them away from the girls when I had clients to whom I had promised rides. I told the girls that my bike had problems and I needed to use their bike for a short time. I always kept my bike chained up with a lock so they couldn't know whether I was being truthful or not. This did not make the girls happy, so they told Mom on me. Of course she scolded me, but I told her the same story about my bike having troubles. She seemed to buy the story, although I feel sure she noticed that my bike was always good for delivering my newspapers at four o'clock in the afternoon.

       My method was to ride the bikes to the renter's house away from our house, so the girls always thought I was actually using the bike myself. I tried to be careful and only use one of their bikes at a time, but there were times I had both of them rented out at the same time. That was when I had to come up with tall tales in order to confiscate both bikes at nearly the same time. My fee for renting their bikes was ten cents each half hour or fifteen cents for an entire hour. Weekends were my busiest rental times, especially Saturdays.

       One day one of my twin sisters (I forget which one) saw one of my clients on a bike exactly like theirs. They told the kid they had a bike just like the one he was riding. My side business started to seriously unravel at that point because that kid told my sister that he didn't own the bike, he was just renting it from their brother, which was me.

       I don't recall all the details now, but suddenly my lucrative side business hit the skids. Mom went down to talk to the boy who had the rental bike and he told her he was renting it from me.

That pretty much ended my extra income potential. Of course Mom was very angry with me and told Dad what I had been doing with the girls' two rental bikes. Dad was really upset with me too, but for whatever reason he did not beat me. Maybe it was because he thought I was too old to get the kind of whippings I had gotten before. Whatever the reason, I was extremely thankful.

 

The End

 

Paul R. Meredith

Circa 1984

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

  

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Meredith Dies

Grandma Meredith Dies

It was the summer of 1944. I had just turned nine years old a few months earlier. I heard the phone ring while I was in bed. Dad answered it quickly, attempting to keep from disturbing everyone who was sleeping. The call was from Dad’s father, my Grandpa Meredith. I only remember hushed voices between Dad and Mom after he put the phone down. “It’s Mom, she’s pretty bad off. Dad thinks I need to come,” Dad told Mom.

            “Is she going to make it?” I heard Mom ask.
            “Doesn’t sound like it,” Dad replied. I heard our old Chevrolet fire up and indicate Dad was leaving the house.
            A couple of hours later the phone rang again. By this time it was early morning and I jumped out of bed. Mom told me Grandma Meredith had just died. I broke down and cried my eyes out.
            Nobody would ever understand the relationship I had with my dear Grandma Meredith. I never loved anyone more than I loved her. Let me tell you why. During the summers when school was out, it was common for me to spend a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa at their Grand Avenue home in Decatur. For whatever reason, Grandma Meredith wanted me to come and stay with them for days on end, often for two or three weeks. While there, Grandpa worked at the Grand Avenue Cleaners establishment, so Grandma and I would do some cooking, go downtown to shop, and generally just hang out together. I learned a whole lot about life from that wonderful woman. She was a peach in every way.
            Every Saturday that I stayed with her would be an adventure for me. We went to the Seventh Day Adventist Church a couple of blocks from her house, and after church we would ride the bus downtown. Grandma just never ever wanted to miss church, although I do remember a few times she was too ill to go. The bus stopped for us at the bus stop on the corner of Edward and Grand, less than a half-block from her house at 419 West Grand. We generally got off at Main and North Streets and walked the one block up to North Main Street. For whatever reason, Grandma loved the Walgreens store just a block north of Central Park on Water Street, so that is where we would have a light lunch. Grandma always bought me a big old chocolate milkshake before we left. Other than lunch and a milkshake, I no longer remember what else we shopped for, but she always had some little thing she had to get.
            I remember helping Grandma make bread and noodles with homemade dumplings. She always let me roll out the dough and cut the biscuits out, plus she always allowed me to do the dropping of the dumplings into the noodle broth. It made me feel like I was a really big help to her. I will never forget once when she made me a sandwich for lunch. It was the most delicious thing I ever ate. I loved the meat and I always asked her to put mustard on it for me. Well, that sandwich was so good I asked if I could have a second one. She marched right into the kitchen and pulled out a platter from the old icebox (she didn’t own a refrigerator at that time) and set it on the table. She uncovered it and started to slice me some meat for a sandwich. It nearly made me gag. “Grandma, what is that?” I asked.
            “It’s beef tongue,” she replied.
            “Yuck, I can’t eat any of that,” I told her.
            “Well now, Sonny, you’ve already been eating it most of your life, as well as just a few minutes ago. You told me then that you loved it.”
            I ran into the bathroom and almost threw up (maybe I did throw up, although I have long since forgotten). Grandma followed me to make sure I was not going to be too sick. I guess I got past the horrible image of that big old cow tongue on that platter, although there are times when I still remember that horrible day when I discovered what I had been eating.
            It was much later when I discovered that not only had I eaten that cow tongue, but also chitterlings. I never knew what they were either, but once when I saw her cooking them while burning a brown paper grocery bag on top of the stove, I asked. I know for certain I threw up when she told me about those horrible things I had eaten at her house many times. Every single time I ate there after learning about chitterlings and cow tongue, I always asked for identification of what I was about to eat.
            Grandma had a window box where she kept her butter and milk in the winter. She could only get ice for the icebox delivered in the summer months, so Grandpa Meredith had built her a way to open the kitchen window and store her spoilable food items outside. I know Mom also had one that Dad had built for her. She also kept all her leftover meat in the window box when it was cold outside. Most of the time Grandma purchased her food things daily. Scanlon’s Super Market was less than a hundred feet from her front door.

Grandma always wore a head covering wrapped around her head that she fashioned from a scarf. I never saw her without it. One day I asked her, “Grandma, why do you always have that thing on your head?”

            She told it was to keep her head warm, even in the summer. Being a stupid young kid, I bought her answer without question. It wasn’t until after she died that I learned she had suffered from cancer of the head for several years. She wore the scarf head covering to hide the cancer from sight of those around her.

The day of Grandma Meredith’s funeral, I wanted to go to it. Until then I had never experienced seeing anyone dead. Mom and Dad thought I was too young to go to the services, so they left us with one of my aunts, maybe it was Aunt Vade, although I forget who for sure. I had heard Mom and Dad talking and I learned Grandma was to be buried in Fairlawn Cemetery, a cemetery I was very familiar with due to making so many trips through it to get to the Duck Pond at Fairview Park where many of the neighborhood boys went to fish. I told Aunt Vade I was going down to play with one of my friends, but in secret I was going to go to the cemetery to see if I could find out where Grandma was to be buried.

            I scurried down Taylor Street, over to Dennis Street all the way to the cemetery. I climbed over the fence and walked just a short distance over the train tracks to where I saw a tent canopy erected and many cars pulling into the area. Almost immediately I saw Uncle Harley’s big old green Studebaker pull in. He had taken Mom and Dad to the services. I sneaked my way to within about half a block or so, where I hid behind some evergreen trees and some bushes. From there I could hear the preacher from Grandma’s church say some words of prayer in a loud voice, and then everybody started crying. I waited there until the service was over and all the people left. Two men came and lowered Grandma’s box down to the bottom of the hole and they started throwing shovels of dirt on top of her box.
            I cried all the way home and for several hours afterward. I had not only lost my dear Grandma Meredith, but also my very best friend. I had bad dreams about her funeral for a number of years after that. Even today, I still think how those two guys threw dirt on her grave, as well as a few cigarette butts they smoked. I remember them laughing as they worked, while I sat on the hillside crying.

Years later at the age of eighteen, I learned I was adopted. It came to light that my dad wasn’t really my real dad at all, which also meant that Grandma Meredith wasn’t my real grandma at all. For many years I wondered why she would treat me so much better than any of the other Meredith kids. None of them ever stayed with her like I did. She had always treated me special, and she had to know I wasn’t really her grandson, not by blood anyway.

            I guess it must have been that she never saw me as a substitute grandson, or maybe she wanted to show me special love because I had this big problem looming ahead of me that I would someday discover. I don’t know why she showed me so much attention, so much more than the other kids. But I do know I had such a special love for her that even today I can’t adequately describe it. I can still cry when I recall the times I spent with her. I just never let anyone see me doing it.

If ever an angel walked the earth, Gertrude Lance Meredith was that angel. The special memory of her will live with me to my grave.

Paul R. Meredith

Date: Unknown