Stealing First

Stealing First is the story of Jody Benson, a man of thirty-plus who is looking back on his life as a high school-aged boy in the small Nebraska town of South Bend. Living and teaching high school in Oregon during the mid-1970s, he takes a summer trip "home" in search of the impulses that made him the man he has become. He has unease about him that he (and his wife) hope this journey can assuage.

Back in South Bend with his two sons, Jody visits once again the sites of some memorable experiences during the most impressionable of his growing years. The story moves back and forth between the 1950s and 1970s as he recalls significant events in his life as a young Nebraskan and tries to fit together the puzzle of his own existence.

Teenage acts of mischief, scenes of first love, athletic exploits-Jody remembers them all. Old friend and neighbor Marian McKnight, still vibrant and insightful in her late sixties, provides Jody with invaluable observations, commentary and encouragement-as she did for the teenage Jody-and old pals Bo and Harley help him re-live some of their times together.

His father's words, "You can't steal first," provide a guiding-and limiting-force in his life. In the end a tragic event shakes Jody from his lethargy and, ironically, leads him to self-discovery and even a measure of contentment.

Smith is a high school journalism teacher in Springfield, Oregon.