What Happened?

By Charles Collins

What Happeneda Fiction

The story is a drama, mystery, and a suspense novel.
The storyline is about a family which owns a Used Furniture and Appliances business. The husband (Pa) neglects his wife emotions and pursues his business. The husband accuses the son (Johnny) for having a sexual affair with his mother (Bessie). The mother dies of being an alcoholic. The son moves away to live with his best friend, Razz. The daughter (Lisa Ann) gets pregnant by the sons best friend. Other friends of the family (Benfields) become foster parents to the daughter and baby. The friends husband dies of injuries received in World War II. A civil rights struggle ensues and the best friend gets killed. The daughters best friend (Betty Jo) whom she knew from school knows too much. The town of Middleton, Mississippi, segregates and despises colored people. Old man Coolidge is the ringleader of hatred between the coloreds and whites. The law enforcement helps to defray integration. Henry Bolton (Pa) stands on the sidelines. He meets and marries his daughters best friends mother, Wendy, his soul mate. The son disappears and never being heard from again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 11, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453527009

Charles Collins

Charles Collins has arrived. Those fortunate enough to own a piece of Collins Art in their collection know. His work is featured in some very prestigious museums, and homes. The museum of New Mexico, Millicent Rodgers Museum, Harwood Museum and the Guthrie Center are public facilities that showcase some of his work. With thousands of private collectors who support the timeless, and unmistakable works of Charles Collins. Many international collectors such as Neil Young, David Bromburg, Joan Baez, KD Lang, Dwight Yocum, Pierce Brosnan, Paul Horn, Michael Martin Murphy, Jeffery Jones, Arlo Guthrie, and many other share in Collins vision. Legendary folk singer Arlo Guthrie commissioned Collins to do the cover art for "Son of the Wind" He was also the inaugural artist for the Guthrie Center. Michael Martin Murphy commissioned art from Collins for his album "River Of Time". He is honored by fellow artist who support is work and his vision for God In The Arts Foundation. Collins is truly one of the most important artist to call New Mexico home. With a Day named in his honor in the State of New Mexico it is obvious New Mexico is as proud of him as he is of it. The many awards Collins has received for his work have made him the "Most Awarded Artist in the History of the Taos Art Festival”. We all look forward to what Charles Collins will have to share with us next.

Book preview

WHAT HAPPENED?

Charles Collins

Copyright © 2010 by Charles Collins.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

68596

CONTENTS

Characters

Who Am I

Chapter 1: Early Years

Chapter 2: Blossom

Chapter 3: Teenage: My Lover

Chapter 4: Friendship

Chapter 5: Afraid

Chapter 6: Discovery

Chapter 7: My Baby

Chapter 8: Unknown

Chapter 9: Investigation

Chapter 10: Surprised

Chapter 11: Escaped

Chapter 12: Overcome

Epilogue

I would like to thank my mother and brother for their dedicated support and the accomplishment of finishing this book during our civil rights struggle.

Mrs. Gertis Corbin Collins

Mr. Franklin Thomas Collins

CHARACTERS

Henry Bolton—Husband and Pa

Bessie Bolton—Wife and mother

Lisa Ann—Daughter

Johnny—Son

Mr. Benfield—Neighbor and retired soldier

Mrs. Benfield—Neighbor and RN nurse

Razor (Razz)—Johnny’s best friend

Betty Jo—Lisa Ann’s best friend

Wendy—Betty Joe’s mother

Coolidge Realty—Owner and grand marshal of KKK

Town sheriff

WHO AM I

Get off your knees and look around.

Tell me, what do you see?

I didn’t make you in the image of darkness,

I made you in the likeness of me!

I made you the color of coal from which

beautiful diamonds are formed.

I made you the color of oil,

the black gold that keep people warm.

I made you from the rich, dark earth that can

grow the food you need.

Your color’s the same as the black stallion, a

majestic animal is he.

I didn’t make you in the image of darkness,

I made you in the image of me!

All the colors of the heavenly rainbow can be

found throughout every nation.

But when all those colors are blended, you

became my greatest creation.

Your hair is the texture of lamb’s wool.

Such a humble little creature is he.

I am the shepherd who watches them.

I am the one who will watch over thee.

Your are the color of the midnight sky.

I put the stars’ glitter in your eyes.

There is a smile hidden behind your pain.

That’s why your cheeks are so high.

You are the color of dark clouds formed,

when I send my strongest weather.

I made your lips full, so when you kiss the one

that you love, they will remember.

Your stature is strong, your bone structure thick,

to withstand the burdens of time.

The reflection you see in the mirror . . .

the image that looks back is mine.

What Happened

CHAPTER 1

Early Years

I live in Middleton, Mississippi, with my parents, Henry and Bessie Bolton. My father owns a small business where he sells used furniture and appliances. Mostly he collects and repairs items for a small fraction of the original price. This usually keeps him busy a lot. He always leaves home around 6:30 a.m. to open the store at 8:00 a.m. He drives about twenty minutes one way. On days he has to make a pick of items, he doesn’t open the store. This time is set aside for inventory, cleaning, and preparing to restore the items he picks up that day. My father is a proud man, and I have never heard him ask anyone for anything. He always says that if he doesn’t have it means he doesn’t need it. Our house is modest decorated with used furniture and broken appliances that he had restored. A small radio sits on a table in the front room, and with it are many magazines of life and styles of man, women clothing, and books of adventure, fishing, hunting, camping, and on how to repair. There is no entertainment except for that little radio that constantly plays country music and occasionally a news brief of the latest events of the day. My mother is a homebody who sits around all day listening to that radio and drinking gin and tonic. Father has taken her to see a doctor many times about her drinking, but she continues anyway. Finally, Pa has given up. The doctor said, All that drinking she does is going to kill her. Pa comes home late in the evening so he will not have to confront her. My brother never lives with us as a family. From the time I can remember, he spends his time roaming around with his best friend, Razor. Razor’s family lives fifteen miles almost into the next county. My brother, Johnny, and Razz are inseparable twins. They both are tall, six feet I think, blond, and easy to look at. Pa only has one son. For whatever reasons, Pa and Johnny did not agree. This is why Johnny moved out.

Whenever Pa leaves the house he always calls me to let me know that he is going, and asks me to keep an eye on mother just in case something happens. Mother never wakes before 9:00 a.m., and she normally drags herself into the kitchen and fills the coffee pot of water waiting a few minutes for the water to get hot enough so she can make a cup of tea. After flinging her hair and running her fingers through it she looks for one of those women magazines that are stacked on the table and she finds one of her interest. I