Many authors have a group of people called “first readers” who take a look at their manuscript before it is sent to an editor. In February of this year, I finished up sent off the first book to
a group for first readers who all returned the edited manuscript to me by the end of that month.
TomBragg said something to the effect, “I do believe that there is something up
there although I haven’t really put a name on… Reading your new book has made
me rethink a few things in my life.”
This
happened a couple of months later (as reported by Tom’s friend Peg):
Tom Bragg drove down to Georgia to join his Navy buddies
from the USS Mullinax for a 5-day reunion in Columbus, Georgia. He departed for
Chattanooga around 2:00. I received a call from Tom around 4:00. He said that
he was in the ER at the Gordon County hospital which is about an hour from
Jasper. He had been in an awful car accident, but he seemed to be okay other
than a bump on his head, nose bleed and lots of bruises and sore muscles. Tom
told me that apparently he had totaled his car, a blue Suburu Forrester, and
that I needed to come pick him up.
Before going to the hospital I decided to go to the
salvage yard where his car had been towed so that I could retrieve what I could
from his car. When I drove into the yard and the man there pointed to Tom's
car, I shrieked. How could anyone possibly have survived in that knurled rubble?
The salvage yard owner stood there shaking his head and remarking that the
wreck was as bad as he had EVER SEEN and that it had to have been a MIRACLE for
the driver to get out of that car alive and even unscathed! The car had rolled
over several times and had landed upside down.
