Waste Places - Softcover

Weaver, Melvin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0595010776 ISBN 13: 9780595010776

Publisher: iUniverse, 2000

Synopsis

Brenten Justin was just a young lad living in southeast Florida when his parents were drowned in a hurricane. Upon their deaths, his only sister, Melanie, and her new husband, Mark Carson, adopted Brenten. After struggling for a few years, Mark got a job as a deck hand aboard the Virginius that was running guns and supplies to the insurgents in Cuba. The Spanish navy captured the ship and all those aboard were hanged. A few years later, Melanie died, as well, of heartbreak.Brenten swears revenge against Spain, and when old enough, works his way to Cuba and joins the rebel forces. He soon finds that vengeance offers little reward, and helping to alleviate the suffering of a whole people brings much greater satisfaction. Thus he decides to devote his considerable energies and talents to the cause of ridding Cuba of a cruel and unjust Spanish tyranny.

About this title

About the Author:

Melvin Weaver was born in Boynton Beach, Florida, the son of a pioneer south Florida family. He was educated in the local public school system and graduated from the University of Florida. The Weaver family owned and operated dairy farms and golf courses in Florida and the Bahamas.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

PROLOGUE: The American frontier is gone. There is no more. The colonization of the west, to a great degree, is what gave us our character, strength and coarseness combined with inquisitiveness and acqute awareness. We were a restless people, with an abundant amount of nervous energy, eager to get the job done regardless of the hardships encountered, or in many cases, overly concerned by the consequences of our actions. The exuberance that freedon brings, the buoyance, that dominant individualism, this we learned during our march westward. What shall we do now? Do we strike out from our shores and look elsewhere beyond the continental United States for our--manifest destiny--the right to expand?

This was the mood of the American people, the questions they asked themselves. The answers came from the press and the many politicians. In New England, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge warned in a speech that America would be wise to enter the race for its share of the "Waste Places of the Earth."

The sun was high, but almost unseen by the struggling band of men who moved slowly through the chlorophylic half-light of the sullen almost impregnable beauty of the jungle. The call of the tropical cuckoo, answered by the cooing of the wood-doves made strange, unfamiliar noises to Brenten's ears. The noises should have been strange, if not unfamiliar, to Juan Gomez and his men as well, for they were not the cries of birds, but the signals of men...Spanish snipers, perched high in trees, hidden from view. Suddenly, the terrifying sound of a Mauser bullet came winging through leaves and bushes, rising to a shrill cresendo, then sinking with a moan followed by a loud chug when it hit human flesh. Brenten, wide-eyed, saw the skull of the man three feet in front of his explode with a force that spewed brain and bone on his face and chest.

It's her! His mind reeled, confused. The same face as in the dream. Bur was it a dream? How could it have been? Surely, not. Or is this heaven? Gently, he moved his head forward until their lips touched, hers' soft and yielding, parted in sleep. Reluctantly, he separated from her, and looked searchingly into deep pools of ebony, now wide in wonderment.

Brenten spoke in Spanish. "Come and get me, you big Gorilla," he shouted, "I'll not use the gun. I beat you once without one; I can do it again." This said to distract Armas: keep him unaware of what was fast approaching from behind. Suddenly, the train's engine entered the tunnel; Brenten spun around and dropped spread-eagle to the catwalk. He wanted his head facing away from any flying objects.

About this edition

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0595010776
• ISBN 13: 9780595010776
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208