Based on their daring, dubious and disjointed nature, one could easily conclude a complete lack of forethought was responsible for Roger’s head-shaking array of adult activities. These included a proud beginning as a USMC carrier-based pilot, being hired by the CIA, flying missions for foreign governments, and other improvident (but apparently gallant) deeds that resulted in him appearing in TV documentaries and having his photo show up in weekly news magazines. His increasingly questionable ventures provided brief residences worldwide, including everything from a bougainvillea-draped cottage on the French Riviera to a bamboo cage in Laos.
Instead of Skipping Stones is the unlikely prelude to his future duplicitous global adventures. It is a collection of innocent and endearing admissions; a fresh and confidentially narrated pre-teen to adult memoir. The reader will be caught up in a succession of delicate, weighty, and progressively more thought-provoking scenarios. He or she will find themselves smiling or wincing at Roger’s adolescent doubts, conclusions, and best guess responses; up to and including his almost happenstance choice of a life’s work.
But there’s an imperfect motive; one he might have divulged earlier, except as a younger man its humbling admission would have been much too effacing. It was not until his mid-fifties that he realized one lone flaw was the genesis of all his life choices. Only in the final chapters does the reader get a glimpse of the shortcoming that will unknowingly be the reason for Roger’s repeated overly zealous and risky, future undertakings. Wives and girlfriends will discover the explanations for their husband’s or boyfriend’s misdeeds may have been diametrically misunderstood.
In sharing with you his youthful aspirations, efforts and misgivings, Roger’s earnest hope is to gain some credibility and maybe even a bit of affection, before later disappointing you with a surprising string of selfish, inconsiderate, and unfortunately—occasionally illegal activities.
