the Best of Love

It is the late summer of 1982. Tom Dockman is making his way back to school. He meetsJim Sinclair, a freshman, at the airport. Sinclair is looking for his lost father. Dockman isgoing to have to find his mother again. Their random meeting is also a bit intentional, a bitpreordained.It is a story about places, Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, the Maritimes and New England. Itis about Canadians who sometimes hate Americans and Americans who sometimes reduceCanadians, and all the conversation and sex that happens between them. It's about politicsand history, and the future, as talked about and imagined in the past.In this literary mystery novel, sometimes funny, often hilarious, the author helps the readersolve the riddles of situation and circumstance through gossip, rumor, and dialog. Througha death, a birth, an abduction, and a disappearance the novel's plot lines play out. It uncoverssecrets about who and where and the self- identity: always in a state of change; always in astate of becoming.As he scanned the crowd for a familiar face, a kid cast a darting glance in his direction. Neverseen him before, Tom Dockman thought. Green in the gills. A freshman, looking for companytoo...The kid rose up unexpectedly. Dockman was surprised by the great height and bulk ofthe boy. He placed his book down on his carry-on and headed off toward the men's room.Dockman walked over to the window, beyond the kid's seat. He looked back and read the book'stitle. Kerouac's On the Road. I think of Dean Moriarty, the father we never found. I think of DeanMoriarty. The paperback book's binding was broken from use, flaring the book cover upward.A name was written on the flyleaf: J. Sinclair...The plane was boarding. Dockman got in line.He was confident now. He was feeling much better. What's a better cover at customs than bigromantic youth?