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Category: Humor/Mainstream
Description: A humorous collection of stories that explain the juxtaposition of the life of a middle-class, southern-raised boy of the Baby Boom generation.
eBook Publisher: SynergEbooks, 2001 SynergEbooks
eBookwise Release Date: October 2004

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [132 KB]
Words: 29783
Reading time: 85-119 min.

"I have just completed reading Dinner With W.T., and as soon as I wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes, I hope to give you the reader, a true and accurate view of the book. Rick Baber is a man of vision, vision not of the future but a vision of the past. Much along the lines of Garrison Keillor, Rick takes us into his world to give us a place to belong. His masterful use of verbiage brings to life long forgotten moments from our own pasts and allows the reader to once again visit those sometimes confusing, sometimes painful, but now with age and time, often times humorous incidents. He paints with a colorful palette, telling how he and friends conspired to get a snow day. How he dealt with a poor, old woman with Rhumors. He slashes his canvas with bits or quiet watercolors in the form of poetry and lets the reader gain an insight into his persona. He even opens a part of his life that few allow us to see--his anger. His focal point and the title of the book is so hilarious that might I caution the reader not to have a cup of coffee in their hands when reading! I really do believe he owes me a new keyboard since I spilled my coffee because I laughed so hard. Rick has a hit here, he will have a following and those of us privileged to take his journey will grow from the experience of knowing this fine gentle man. This book leaves us wanting more, we want to again live our lives vicariously through his, we want him to again dredge up those long forgotten memories of past lives, lives before minivans, before IRA's, before we had to have the toys that define our mundane lives today. A side note to the author, please continue to enlighten our world Rick and don't ever put down that pen!"--Jacquie Britton, author of Herman the Hermit Crab

Prologue

How'd we get here?

Did you ever travel in the car with your parents when you were kids? Did you ever go to sleep out of sheer boredom soon after you got in the car and not wake up until you got to grandma's house?

It might have been a beautiful Saturday, but you didn't want to be stuck in the car; so you went to sleep and missed the ride. Just think of the things you might have been able to see if you'd been paying attention.

I'm 46 years old as I write this. And that's how I feel about life--I wish I would have paid more attention.

There are only a few of the millions of things that happened to me that I really even noticed. To many people these little things may not seem that significant, but, when that's all you've got, that's what you write about. Nothing here about my campaign for the Presidency, or how I led my troops to victory over Nazi oppression; nothing about my first steps on the moon. Just ordinary stuff that happens to ordinary people. But hopefully, this is what ordinary people can relate to.

When signing up for an Internet WEB site for which I used to write (I was expelled and banned, along with many of my peers for questioning the authority of the editors), I was asked the question ?What do you write about?" Until then, I'd never really given it much thought. But, having to put something down, I believe I coined my answer:--I write about my life, because if I don?t, it really was wasted."

That'd be a damn shame, wouldn't it?

So, you kids at home, try to remember this. Next time you're at an all-you-can-eat food bar and Ruth Ann's Hacking In The Breadbox, take notes. That may be the biggest thing that ever happens to you.