Synopsis

We all know it’s not easy being a 21st century middle-aged, well-educated American with a decent job, no major health issues, no legal or financial problems, and plenty of family and friends. But most of us are pretty short on details. What exactly are the day-to-day challenges, not to mention the innermost mental and emotional processes, of folks struggling through this existence? REVOLUTION attempts to illuminate these mysteries, and many more as well, by delving deeply into the lives of several such people. Join them as they laugh, cry, love, and hate. Share in their sweet triumphs and their devastating failures. Ride along with them as they courageously press onward, learning and growing, facing immense obstacles, rising up, finding a way, charting a course, chasing their dreams… all against the magnificent, paradise-like backdrop of Los Angeles, California.

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Excerpt

On an unusually warm April morning in Los Angeles, Bill Smede stepped onto the sidewalk in front of his home and immediately began to whine. Unfortunately for his wife Yvonne, she was only a few steps ahead and had to listen to it.

“God, it’s f*ing hot out here! I can’t believe it’s already this hot and it’s not even 9 A.M. What’s it going to feel like this afternoon?”

Yvonne didn’t reply, although she was tempted to, knowing Bill’s question was purely rhetorical and that any response to it would irritate him. Instead she continued to focus on her new PaceTek Ultra, a device clearly intended to encourage either exercising a lot or losing one’s mind in utter bewilderment and frustration. Since strapping it onto her wrist an hour ago, Yvonne had been doing mainly the latter.

At the end of the block, she finally managed to bring her step count up on the tiny screen. She frowned—a paltry 375 steps so far today. Bill came up alongside, fiddling with his own device, a PaceTek Nano.

“How are your steps?” he asked.

“Lousy.”

“Yeah, mine too. Want to make this one a double?”

“Sounds good.”

One loop around the neighborhood was somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 steps, depending on whose device was asked and on which day. Major streets, like Santa Monica Boulevard, were to be avoided because of the sounds and smells of the hundreds of cars slowly passing along them during any given minute, and anyway crossing them was too much of a hassle. So Bill and Yvonne had designed the loop to provide the maximum possible length without ever reaching any of these major streets. It went south on their street, Wexler Avenue, then east on Oklahoma Avenue, north on Underwood Avenue, west on Utah Avenue, and finally south on Wexler again, back to their building.

The section of L.A. where Bill and Yvonne lived, a sprawling patch of territory far bigger than most cities, was known affectionately by its residents as the Westside (or The WestSide by its most affectionate ones) and included many famous places like the Playboy Mansion. Judging by the cost of housing, L.A. ranked among the very most desirable American cities in which to live. And, by that same measure, the Westside was apparently the most desirable part of L.A.

Bill harbored serious doubts about both. Despite the fact that he could never hope to buy even the smallest, most dilapidated house in his neighborhood (he and Yvonne had scrimped and saved for their rather non-luxurious 2-bedroom condo), it seemed a bit of a dump. The sidewalks were always dirty, with their slabs cracked and pushed up by tree roots; parked cars, in widely varying condition, perpetually lined both sides of every street; many houses and apartment buildings had fallen into major disrepair; dubious characters roamed around at all hours of the day and night…

It was a list that could go on and on. And indeed, in Bill’s mind, it did. As he grudgingly completed each loop to ensure the logging of precious steps, he was constantly refining and expanding his collection of gripes.

For her part, Yvonne acknowledged the shortcomings of the neighborhood but didn’t let them get under her skin. She also acknowledged quite gracefully that her husband could be a hyper-sensitive, overreacting grump. She enjoyed his company anyway. He had a good sense of humor, including about himself, and their walking loops were primarily filled with lighthearted banter and shared chuckles (often at the expense of their dearly loved but easily ridiculed friends and family).

About the Author

Very little is known about David Dorrough—not because he is secretive, but because nobody is really interested in knowing. David is widely believed to be a male human who grew up on earth and currently still resides there. REVOLUTION is David’s first book (and possibly his last—he found writing it to be quite hard work). David is rumored to be rather fond of certain foods, and of the color blue.

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