A Dying Breed Volume 1: From the Bright Lights Series

By Lee Henry, II and Darian Wigfall

A Dying Breed is about a 10 year old young man named DeShaun Henry. He is a talented artist, which allows him to escape mentally, but he is deeply affected by family and friends who deal drugs. He also gets caught up in the violence that is an integral part of gang life. As soon as he thinks he has made it past one trap, he gets caught again. DeShaun is in a constant battle between his dreams and the reality that surrounds him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477204108

Lee Henry, II

Darian Wigfall is not an expert on children. He simply desires to give children and adults a realistic story about the struggles of inner city kids he has witnessed as a mentor with and other service organizations since the year 2000. He spends his days working in a science lab and serving his community in anyway he can. Darian lives in Saint Louis, Missouri as a single man with a passion for helping others.

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© 2012 by Darian Wigfall. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/18/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-0409-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-0410-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012908644

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my parents Samuel and Mildred Wigfall for believing in this project and providing support the entire time. Thanks to Lee Henry for the marvelous cover and story art. Thank you to everyone who read this and encouraged me to move forward with the Bright Lights series. Thank you to the Willis family for allowing me to mentor such a great kid, Earl, for whom I first started writing this book.

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Chapter 1

T here are a lot of things you can say about urban youth these days. The conversations can go around and around, but they usually end up on the same conclusion—these kids are in trouble. The stories tend to center on the dark matters, but they rarely cover the bright spots. DeShaun Henry is one of those bright spots.

DeShaun is not your typical ten year old. He goes to school each day and he has a wild imagination, but two things set him apart from most of his classmates.

The first, is his ability to paint scenes of his surroundings. He likes to take photos with his grandmother’s old Polaroid and paint the images on canvasses, bought by his older brother Michael.

The second, is that he’s extremely ambitious. DeShaun is a dreamer. His ambitions stretch far beyond what most ten year olds think about. He dreams of becoming a world-renowned painter and ultimately a leader in his community—inspired by his late grandfather.

The sad thing is, he’s stuck in a trap. The trap in which he finds himself, is the urban lifestyle he was born into. Everyday he has to avoid the pitfalls that snare many city residents: drugs, crime, crushing poverty.

It’s not all bad in DeShaun’s neighborhood though. His grandmother is one of the most respected women on the block. She’s lived in their house for over 50 years. When she was young, she was a nurse. As she got older, she left her job to take care of the neighborhood’s youth. She did this because she wanted to be home for her daughter Denise, but also because she saw a disturbing trend in the behavior of the youngest members of the neighborhood.

In 1983, kids didn’t act like they did when she was young—the sixties.

Now, the only young people she has the energy to raise, are the three her daughter left behind.

DeShaun! It’s time to get cleaned up for lunch! his grandmother called to him.

He was completely focused on painting. You see… there’s an art gallery around the corner from DeShaun’s house. He first discovered his love of oil-based paint and a canvas there—watching painters work from outside the window. He wanted so badly for his paintings to hang up in their studio one day.

It was a scorching summer in the city. This was one of those summers where you could fry an egg on the pavement. DeShaun was spending a lot of time stuck in the house due to the heat, but also because his grandmother didn’t want him getting caught up in the gang life his older brother was involved in at that very moment.

DeShaun’s brother Michael was once much like him—bright, full of ambition. But when Michael was in high school, their mother moved to California with her boyfriend—a music producer. He had promised to make her a star.

Their grandmother, Momma Henry, took them in out of love for her daughter. She argued again and again with her to stay, but there was no stopping her. Michael, DeShaun, and their baby sister Kesha moved in, unaware