The Edge of Nowhere

By Ethan Nicholas

Calvin is just an everyday seventeen year old young man. He, like so many before him, is just trying to find his purpose in life, and carve his own path, if needed. It's 1954, in the rural town of Humboldt, Tennessee. Calvin is very well known in Humboldt High, but Calvin is also a greaser. Rough, raw, and uncouth, Calvin and his gang own Humboldt. Unfortunately, the head that wears the crown is often the heaviest. Follow Calvin, and his motley crew, as they live for the moment, howl at the moon, chase after love, and eventually fight to protect their turf.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ethan Nicholas
• Release date: Apr 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311094278

Ethan Nicholas

Ethan Nicholas is a 23 year old author and musician from rural West Tennessee.

Book preview

The Edge of Nowhere

By: Ethan Nicholas

Foreword:

The words scribbled on the pages ahead of you are torn. There comes a time in every young man’s life where a choice has to be made. This choice is what makes them the type of man they’re meant to be.

There are two different types of men. The first type, oh, well that’s the safe type. Perfectly crew cut hair, made really great grades in high school, and has a very nice and cozy job. The second type, is a man who lives his life by the thrill of the chase. He lives and dies for the moment. He doesn’t concern himself with the future, or even the present.

But, every once in a while, when the stars align just ever so slightly, there is a man who is caught between the lusters and brightness of the night life, and between the life he knows is right.

Get comfortable, take a deep breath, and get ready to go on a journey through a young man’s mind as he carves his own path of self-discovery through a rural town in the 1950’s.

Part 1

‘…I had a name, but they took it from me.’

How you doin’? The name’s Calvin. I won’t even bother telling you my last name, because I never thought it fit me. This is my story, and it’s not a bad story, but it’s definitely not filled with glitter and rainbows. You can judge me, and say I’m this, or say I’m that, but don’t jump the gun too soon. If you’re one of the people who will judge me anyway, I suggest you turn back now. But if you hang around, just know that you did it willingly.

Most of the people who know me don’t call me Calvin, they call me Cowboy. Nicknames are one of those things that you can’t choose, and since I’m not one to break tradition, I was given my name the same way. I kind of liked the name Calvin, but no matter how much I liked the name, they took it from me. I can’t possibly be the only kid who has ever had a bad nickname, right?

Ever since I was a freshman in high school, I’ve heard that you had to do something crazy to get the girls, and let’s be honest, that’s what all the guys my age think about. It’s all about the girls, man. A couple of years ago, the guys dared each other to sneak off to one of the horse farms and ride a horse that hadn’t been ridden yet. It was almost like a rite of passage, and dodging shotgun blasts and getting knocked senseless by a horse was a sure-fire way to get the girls drooling over you.

They said the horse bucked and folded me up like a book when I got on his back, and he was giving me a run for my money, but I’d like to think I was giving him a good ride too. The old man who lived there came out and started to run us off. Then something happened that hadn’t since that tradition of initiation started. The horse stopped bucking. I broke the horse. I turned the horse to the old man and tried to not look out of breath. I could see his face clear as day in the Tennessee night, as the moon shone bright.

Well I’ll be…looks like we got us a cowboy here, boys, what’cha think? He said.

We were all between fifteen and seventeen years old, at the time, so we were afraid he was going to call the cops. But, he surprised all of us when he continued.

"Every year a bunch ‘a you young boys come out to someone’s ranch and try to break