We Didn't Get to Dance

Rosalie, Phenius, and Willie never in their wildest dreams would have imagined that a chance encounter one night would lead to a lifelong friendship with a bond stronger than steel.

Rosalie is a white woman, married with grown children. She's in her early forties and is a human resources manager for a large publishing company. Phenius is a black man in his early sixties. He's a retired teacher who now runs his own business repairing and maintaining computers and IT systems. Willie is an elderly black man. No one knows exactly how old he is, but he's older than Phenius. Willie lives mostly on the street, but that's by choice, because of an event years earlier that changed his life forever. They made a strange trio. Three people from three different worlds, and three different generations. Willie, with his ability to boil things down to very simple but accurate terms put it this way: "Well, pretty lady, two things; One you're a person, Boss is a person, and I'm a person. Two, whether you're White, Black, Red, Yellow, or Brown. Whether you're rich or poor, it's all secondary to number one."

The author was born in Mecklinberg County, Virginia. When he was very young, his parents moved to New Jersey, the state he grew up in. He attended Howell Township Elementary School (now Howell Middle School) and attended Freehold Regional High School, now known as Freehold Burroughs School.

He received a BS in Chemistry from Delaware State College, now known as Delaware State University.

After retiring from IBM, he worked for Time Warner Cable as a customer service rep for 14 years. During this time, he also managed to put in 20 years as a part-time police officer: 17 for the town of Vestal, NY, and 3 for the village of Owego, NY.

He's now fully retired and enjoys spending time with kids and grandkids. He also enjoys landscaping; flower gardening; playing around in the basement making soaps, lotions, and creams; and photography.

This is the author's second book. The first was a small run, self-published book called For My Children and Grandchildren, which he distributed to the kids, grandkids, family, and friends.