The Morrow Family Saga, Series 1: 1950s, Book 4: These Eyes

By Jaysen True Blood

1953. Michael Morrow takes the family on a roadtrip to southwest Iowa...to a rodeo! Their adventure begins with a family campout and trips to various restaurants and cafes in the area...and a journey to Henry Fields' radio station to view how a radio drama is made. But surprises await the family. Big surprises.

As the Morrows take in the sights and sounds of southwest Iowa, Toffer and Tobias French find their lives unraveling further as the Mafia take over their lives. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jaysen True Blood
• Release date: Feb 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393040446

Jaysen True Blood

Jaysen True Blood was born and raised in the Midwest where he currently resides. His first taste of writing came early in grade school with a class assignment. a few years later, his love for writing would return as he found himself with another class assignment, this time a poetry unit. through junior high, he would write a series of novels, many poems, and begin his long interest in writing song lyrics as well. In high school, he would learn the value of tall tales, myths and other kinds of stories as he continued to build his store of stories. upon graduation, he went for a semester at a university, where he would write two stories, one of which would become a serial online for about six months. Returning home, he worked at just about anything he could find, but never strayed far from his love of the story. After his first marriage, he signed on with Keep It Coming, an e-zine, where he wrote two serials, "Tales From The Renge" and "Breed's Command" (the same characters appear with Fancy Marsh in several subsequent westerns. The serial was taken from a manuscript written for a class assignment while in high school). H also wrote writing and music related articles for the print version of KIC that came out for just three issues. When KIC went under, Jay was once again forced to work at different jobs just to make ends meet. between 2007 and 2010, Jay would release "Seven By Jay: Seven Short Stories", "The Price Of Lust: Book One Of Faces In The Crowd" and "So Here's To Twilight And Other Poems".

Book preview

1

At twelve, Natalia was in her own little world. 1953 seemed no different than the past years, except for the movies that she could measure her acting abilities against. In her mind, Nattie was the best actress and could do every part better than the likes of Vivien Leigh or Rita Hayworth. She even had a better wardrobe.

Mama and Papa allowed her to think whatever she wished. They played along with her in hopes of her growing out of her fantasia at some point, but she still had not. Instead, she seemed to go deeper into it. But she loved her acting. It was her world.

But her parents had received word from her brother Nick, who seemed to write at least once a month. He had been transferred.  She had not paid attention to where. It didn’t matter to her.  He didn’t matter.

He had not been a part of her life since she was three. To her, he wasn’t a part of her family anymore. She didn’t consider anyone she couldn’t entertain, even if they were related, a part of her family. Those who came for visits were a different matter. They could be entertained when they were around.

But those who were never around couldn’t possibly be family. They were too far away to be entertained. She resented them even being mentioned. She was all that mattered.

She was the lead. The director. The producer. The writer.

She was the first female Cecil B. DeMille. The female version of Louis Mayer or Samuel Goldwyn. She was going to be a star someday.  And Toby was going to be her leading man.

Her crush had become an obsession. Perhaps more than an obsession. Maybe more like a deep longing. A need to know.

She didn’t care what others said. Toby couldn’t be all that bad. He just couldn’t be.

Nattie, Shasta’s voice brought her out of her fantasia.

Yes, sissie? She answered sweetly.

Mama said to get packed, Shasta responded, we leave for Waubonsie State Park in a couple of hours.

Oh, god, she sighed, being overly dramatic, we’re still going into the wild are we?

Yes, Nattie, Shasta frowned, we’re still going on vacation. Papa thought it would do us good to get out of the city for a while. At least until he had to go to Washington again.

Oh, she frowned back, alright.

She made her way into the house. Michael, her father, looked as if he was just returning to his study.

Well, there you are, he smiled, go on, go get packed! You’re going to love the park.

OK, Daddy, she kissed him on the cheek, feigning excitement, then ran upstairs.

Michael chuckled. He knew that she wasn’t thrilled about the trip. Still, they needed to get out of the city for a while and he really didn’t have the money at the moment to take them out-of-state. He was hoping that he could take them to Hollywood next year. But this year, it was the wilderness.

The family had been going to Waubonsie since it was made a park. They had even supported the idea of creating parks in Iowa and had pushed for each as they were proposed. He had taken Val there on their honeymoon. It had been a tradition from that point on.

He remembered the nights they had spent camping when Nicolai and Theodore were children. And Dmitri. But no one ever spoke of Dmitri. Demmie had been killed.

Yes, Korea had taken their second son. The heir apparent to the Morrow family business. After all, Nick had already told them no. He didn’t want the business.

Theo was currently in college. The youngest son. But much older than Nattie and Shasta.

But the boys had loved the outdoors. They had loved camping. And the woods.

It had been a second home to them. But Nick had been one with the wilderness. So had Demmie.

He hoped that at least one of the girls would also fall in love with the park.

Love? Val snapped him out of his thoughts.

Yes, Beloved? He returned.

What were you thinking of? she pressed herself against him, putting her arms about his shoulders.

Nick, Demmie, and Theo, he smiled at her sadly, and how they loved the park.

I’m sure one of the girls will love it as well, she smiled softly, sweetly, back at him, maybe not Nattie, but Shasta might. Nattie seems lost in her own little world. A world we can’t seem to fathom. She buried her face in his shoulder. I fear that very world will be her undoing. But I—

I know, he nodded, neither of us know quite how to reach her.

It is sad that she never knew Demmie, she said quietly, he probably could have reached her.

Or Nick, he agreed, had he stayed around.

Theo tried, she admitted, before he went off to college. But she was too far gone by then.

THEO MORROW SAT IN macroeconomics class. He’d wanted to follow Demmie and Nick to Korea, but Nick had convinced him to stay behind.

There’ll be another battle, Nick had assured him, another time to prove yourself. Perhaps it won’t be a war, but rather in business. Dad is counting on you.

But you and Demmie— he had tried to object.

Demmie doesn’t really want the business, Nick had stated, and neither do I. That leaves you.

Oh, he had frowned, alright.

He had lost that fight. He snorted in amusement. They had never really had normal fights. There had been no knock down drag out bare knuckle fighting. Not even an instance of wrestling.

Instead, it had been arguments. Disagreements. Wars of words. Debates.

Now, Demmie was dead and Nick was cold and distant. And still in Korea. Or possibly on his way home. Who knew.

And Theo sat in classes to keep his promise to Nick. If no other wars arose, he would win battles for the company as its president or CEO. Or both.

2

Nick sat in the barracks at Fort Bragg. He had been training since he returned. While others were going to Vietnam as ‘advisors’, he was learning to fight as a shadow. And at the moment, he had no desire to be in French Indochina.

He knew that they would eventually send him, but at the moment, it was not his fight. Hell. It wasn’t even America’s fight.

He had come to realize in Korea that even that war wasn’t America’s to fight. The US had been there out of its obligations to the UN and also out of the greed of a handful of people in the world. It had never been a war to free anyone. Just to keep business contracts and to claim resources. Resources that weren’t really needed but that made a handful of people rich.

Indochina was going to be the same if US involvement became more than ten people. Imperialism, even in the guise of democracy, was a bitch. An exercise in futility.

Still, he was a part of that imperialist machine. What was sad was that he realized that the military no longer performed the duty it had been formed to perform. Instead, they did the bidding of the rich and powerful. The same rich and powerful who pulled the strings of the political machine and tugged it even closer to their full control in