The Old School (Full Version)

By R.B. Bailey Jr

When summer arrives, brothers John and Sam plan their dream clubhouse in the woods behind their family farm. Set in the deep south, these brothers will have anything but a routine summer...when they uncover an old secret.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.B. Bailey Jr
• Release date: Dec 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370143061

R.B. Bailey Jr

R.B.Bailey Jr, is an english teacher, published writer, video producer, voice-over artist and blogger, living in Japan for 15 years, now. Before moving to Japan, he grew up in several small towns throughout the American south...but spent the longest time in Jasper, Alabama. So, he considers it his hometown. He was a skilled woodworker for eight years there, but before that, He sold vacuum cleaners, worked in a fast food restaurant, tore tickets in theater, built bedroom furniture and mobile homes (not trailers...trailers are for horses). In June 2001, he and his wife packed up and moved to Japan, spending an entire first year with no job, no money. During that time, he would go to the library (for free entertainment) and started reading in earnest again. He also tried his hand at writing, and wrote “Promises Kept”...a story about a small-town deputy, trying to understand why a series of series of bad events was happening. He finished the story in a few days, and right after that, got his first teaching job. “Promises Kept” sat in his desk drawer for several years to come. Close to the end of his first teaching job, and inspired by his students (and their parents) questions about America, He wrote “The New Neighbor”. This book is the first in a planned series of books about a young Japanese boy who moves to America with his family. This draft, without illustrations, also went to my desk drawer for a few years. He went on to write more short stories as well...all still needing editing. One story he did finish was “Sense Of Worth”, about a young man, fed up with his life, decided to go after his dreams. He liked it better than “Promises Kept”...he felt like more of a writer, with this one. Well into the swing of my third job (we won’t discuss the second one), his writing dried up altogether. he was drinking pretty heavy at this time, and just wasn’t into it. A few years rolled by, he had actually quit drinking (and still quit to this day) and was a brand-new father. Around this time, he was carousing around on his computer and stumbled upon “The New Neighbor”. Don’t know what it was, but he wanted it published in a bad way, now. Together with illustrator Kim Roberts, “The New Neighbor” was finally a complete book in a few months. The next huge step was getting it published, and this is where he really and honestly acquired a very bad distaste for publishing houses. He started mailing out 2-3 photocopies per week of “The New Neighbor” to any and all publishing companies that handled children’s books in Japan, together with a nice introductory letter in both japanese and english. No reply, no response. When he ran out of money for photocopies and postage stamps, he started sending query Emails to publishers. This, to him, seemed the most economical and fastest way to go. Still, no dice. One publisher here in Japan did reply...and actually had the nerve to send a photocopied reject letter. They had the title spelled wrong and had the audacity to send a book catalog. He was furious and decided to try something that I had only recently read about...self-publishing. He discovered Createspace, a subsidiary of Amazon...and was delighted to finally see a printed copy of his book! The book is out there now, next is a matter of getting the word out about it...and himself. With this arrangement, he has the option of buying my own copies at cost plus shipping. This allows him to sell on his own, too. Using social media and traffic exchange, so far he has reached countless countries and thousands of hits with his blog here on WordPress, and 2,950 “likes” for his Facebook page, R.B.Bailey Jr . He is also on About.me and Google+. He has just started a Goo page, and a Mixi page here as well. He was interviewed by journalist Dale Short for The Daily Mountain Eagle earlier in 2016, and also released the second book in the “New Neighbor” series...”The New Neighbor – Ryo’s New School (Volume Two)” in December 2016. He is also a member of several writing groups.

Book preview

The Old School

Written By

R.B.Bailey Jr

Foreword

Did you build your dream clubhouse or fort, when you were a child? I didn’t exactly build mine, but had my first when I was 8. I remember my dad building it for me, when I lived with him in Florida for a few months. It was build up on 4x4 posts...one end open, facing the trailer that we lived in.

I don’t ever remember that fort, or any other structure I had dreams of, getting me into trouble...especially like the characters in this story get into.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1

John was the oldest of three children; his brother was two years younger, and his sister, eight years younger. Sam and Sara were about the best brother and sister a boy could have. Living out in the country as they did in the 1930's, they spent all of their time together. Their parents were George and Mary Murray, second-generation farmers who migrated here from the Carolinas.

George liked his whiskey and stumpwater, Mary liked baking cookies and raising her children. Mostly alone, when George was on a drinking binge. The farm was about 40 acres, plenty of room for livestock and crops. John and Sam would help their pop tend to the animals seven days a week. Hired hands would work there during growing seasons, so you could say they lived pretty well.

John was an adventurous young man, roaming the hills and hollers around the farm every chance he got. His younger brother Sam and sister Sara were usually right along with him on every adventure. Every boy, especially a country boy, likes to have their own place or clubhouse in the woods, and John wasn't any different. In the summer of 1939, the three roamed the woods until they came up with the perfect place for their clubhouse. It was weedy, but with a few small saplings, just starting to take root. The size of area was about the same size as a house, or maybe the schoolhouse that John and Sam go to.

Look at all these weeds, John! Sam said as he kicked at the briars and brush around them, It'll take us forever to get rid of this stuff!

John laughed, Don't be such a crybaby...right Sara?

Sara kept sucking her thumb, with Mr. Buttons, her teddy, clenched tightly in her hand.

I'm not a baby! Sam pushed at his brother, I can do anything you can do, right Sara?

Sara nodded.

We better head back towards the house, it's getting' late. John says as he puts his arm around Sara's shoulder, and leads them back to the house.

Sam follows behind, but takes glances back to the spot where their new clubhouse will stand.

Chapter 2

All the way back to the house, the brothers were planning the clubhouse already. John thinks it should have four rooms; a room for each of them, and a main room. Sam liked his brother's idea, but hoped they could have a porch, too. Little Sara said nothing, but smiled when she heard that she could have her own room.

The children walked across the yard, took their shoes off on the porch, and went inside the house. Inside, it was the country home you would expect. The furnishings weren't very expensive, but nice. Lots of pictures of the Murray