Outskirts Press, INC.

Second Chance Hero

Brian Revoir, a Navy Seabee, is killed during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. When asked if he's ready for the afterlife by an angel named Toby, Brian declares that he missed his goal to be a baseball hero. Advised by Toby that that goal is impossible in the afterlife, Brian is asked if he will accept a return to an earthly existence. After agreeing to his return, Brian finds himself in an economically depressed small town. But Heaven's ways aren't human ways as Brian learns that his path to a "wish come true" involves aiding three lives, assisting in solving a 127-year-old murder while discovering the answer to a mystery in his own love life.

Fingers crept along the white undershirt like the nimble legs of a spider upon its web. The right index led the way across a heart that beat uncommonly heavy for this time of night. Brown eyes, usually soft and gentle, stared with anger into the reddish glow from the night light. Reaching the breast pocket of an unbuttoned dungaree shirt, the fingers pinched the edges of an envelope, then scratched as the fingertips failed to pull it from its concealment. As the envelope crinkled within the fingers, Brian Revoir lay sleepless upon a barrack's cot and wondered why he had received this most unwelcome package.

"Why did you do it, Prissy?" Brian muttered into the silence. The outlines of hanging light fixtures couldn't answer the confused inquirer. For the brief time that this land would celebrate its most important holiday, the nagging questions remained on Brian's lips. "Why this way? Why now?"