Stephen P. Byers

50 stories of exactly 500 words, each ending on the verge of change. The perfect "waiting room" book.

On his 17th birthday, August 30, 1860, Kade Zachary left Berea, Kentucky, arriving in San Antonio, Texas at the end of February; 1,200 miles in 180 days, an average of 6.7 miles a day. A boy and his horse, alone in the wilderness, no marked trail, not even a map, nothing except sun and stars to guide them on an incredible journey, like Davey Crocket and Daniel Boone making their way through the wilderness dependent on their wits and fortitude to achieve their objectives. Today, we find such a venture difficult to imagine, yet in the days before internal combustion engines thousands of pilgrims and fortune hunters crossed America seeking their fortunes or escaping misfortune. The Autobiography of Kade Zachary is a fascinating tale of determination about a boy motivated by his father on his death bed."to get an education ... it's the only way to get ahead." He learns to read and write while apprenticing in the blacksmith trade. As his story unfolds through good fortune, he meets understanding mentors: He writes: "Another curious matter was how good fortune kept replacing Poppa with new guardians, always men who liked me, wanting to help my learning, each different in his own way. Mr. Fee, the learn d professor; Mr. McCreith, the perfectionist; and now, a weathered old cowpoke who'd lived his whole life in the wild west, willing to take me on, to teach me the trials and perils of the trail, demanding nothing in return except a little sympathy and no talk while recovering from binges. Why did these men take me on, I wondered, never realizing their common denominator until years later. Despite the wide difference in skills, learning and personalities, each was a lonely man, wifeless, childless, or abandoned by offspring, alone, filling the void with alcohol, books of learning, endless hours of toil, wanting desperately to share what they had. Suddenly, a youth appears, independent, capable, responsible, asking nothing except to learn, to some degree a replica of how they imagined themselves at my age, igniting the smoldering memories of family, teaching and loving. And I was the beneficiary." An inspirational story well worth reading.

A well-intentioned father, extraordinarily successful, blames himself for the accidental drowning of his wife on July 4, 1898. Disrespectful of his father's rakish lifestyle, conscious the characteristics of his unknown Asiatic mother might reappear in succeeding generations, he vows to follow a celibate life, devoting himself to raising his four-year old daughter, directing her away from boys and romance into a business career. He places her in a girl's Catholic school, then on to university where she acquires a master's degree in finance and economics. He establishes a business for her under the umbrella of his own enterprise. At the age of twenty-seven, already a budding success in the world of commerce, the sudden death of her father devastates her, leaving her to face life on her own, managing her huge inheritance. A chance encounter on a snowy evening leads her into the arms of a suave charlatan who captivates her. Seeking information about her new acquaintance, her esteemed lawyer directs her to an underworld character who warns her about the nature of her challenging new paramour. Alas, blinded by first love, she misinterprets the cautionary advice. The resulting marriage is a story of altruism and greed, naivet and deceit, forgiveness and revenge as their lives become inextricably entwined. Founded on false foundations, their union crumbles. Even as they live their separate lives, they cannot escape, each obsessed with loathing in their hearts for their former partner, their insatiable desire for revenge ultimately destroying them. Their son, born with the appearance of his unknown ancestor, escapes his father's abuse, and thanks to his mother's teachings, becomes the beneficiary of his parents turbulent relationship.