God? . . . Next Novel Under Way

I have been malingering for the last few days insofar as posting my thoughts here. I haven't been malingering on what I do best, however, and that is writing novels. Since my last posting I have written ten chapters of the novel I was talking about last time, God?. So, the book is beginning to take shape. Sixteen-year-old Truman Butler is my protagonist, and after backing his vintage '57 Chevy Classic over the head of his baby brother a lot has happened to him, and none of it has been good.

The main reason for most of his problems lies within himself. That black day of the horrible accident Truman ran screaming into the Panther Swamp which surrounds the Butler place. He wandered out there for two whole days replaying in his head over and over the accident and blaming himself for it. But as the rain began to come down so did his mind start to drop a different form of blame for the tragic incident into his thoughts. He began to blame God. In his delirium he began to contrast his baby brother's death to all of the children of the world who lose their lives horribly, some with great and lingering pain. So he begins to question God at every turn, especially when it comes to the suffering of little innocent children. The key word here is "innocent."

To add to his grief he finally puts two and two together and comes up with a thought so repulsive he almost cannot stand it. Dewey, his baby brother has the exact same facial features that Brother Tuttle, the pastor of the church the Butler family worships at. It is something Truman has thought about before, but the insanity of what has happened has sharpened his thinking and he begins to harbor revulsion and much anger toward both Brother Tuttle and Emma Butler, his mother. What makes it so much worse than merely an adultery which resulted in a pregnancy was that his father was laying on his deathbed while they were carrying on their affair. As the story progresses he beats Brother Tuttle senseless and in the process causes him to lose an eye. Later on in succeeding chapters he is in jail and they are going to try him as an adult and send him to the penitentiary. He tells the lawyers for the church that he will be happy to testify for them and let the whole world know what kind of a pastor Brother Tuttle was. They, of course do not want this, so they drop all charges.

In the meantime Truman has so much guilt associated with the tragedy he is looking for someway to atone for it. He allows another inmate to beat him in his quest for this atonement. He was beaten bad enough to be hospitalized. His mother comes to see him and she tries to make Truman understand why she lay with the preacher. That is not a good thing as far as Truman is concerned, and when the county sheriff comes to him and tells him he is going to give him a ride to the city limits and for him to never come back, Truman is ready. Although he is a juvenile and the sheriff is broking the law in doing what he did, Truman is ecstatic about it. Because he has decided to go on a fact-finding quest to find someone, anyone, who can explain to him why God allows little innocent children to suffer.

This, then, is the plot of the book, Truman's quest for biblical knowledge.