The Trailer Two Spaces Down

THE TRAILER TWO SPACES DOWN a novel by Frank Herbert Spittle Boy, oh boy. Had he guessed that his knock on Mrs. Turley's kitchen door would result in Grandfather nail-gunning him to the wall by his scrotum, Montgomery St. John would never have mounted those back porch steps the summer morning in '62. He is discovered upstairs in bed with his high school girlfriend's mother--by the woman's husband. The enraged spouse is ultimately assuaged by Montgomery's mother, who promises a visit to the wood shed, led by the hand of their family's patriarch. Here's novelistic story telling, painted across a broad canvass that releases crackling energy. With quick-sketch portraits of characters in conflicted scenes, The Trailer Two Spaces Down serves up one insightful anecdote after another. The novel's protagonist struggles with extraordinary challenges and temptations on his journey from hormonal adolescence to uneasy middle age. This serious minded boy adores his mentor grandfather, a Franciscan brother living in Malibu's retreat house. The older man works to sort out the pieces in the boy's sexual missteps and counsels his weekend guest through sessions the young lothario recognizes as allowing for no bullshit. The result is a mutually arrived upon life plan. First, Montgomery will resolve to avoid near occasions of sin, then move to exert control over his future. He'll map a career search, one that prioritizes self-fulfillment, while acknowledging service useful to the world. Through the ensuing years Montgomery strives to earn God's approval while he struggles to work the plan. Attempts at holding to the plan's resolutions involve unconventional tactics while he works through an anguished youth toward a tumultuous manhood. Back home from his session with Grandfather, he's present when his catechism class hosts a visiting foreign missionary. The man's stories capture Montgomery's imagination and he decides to enter the seminary to become a Maryknoll priest. While a missionary in Bolivia, Montgomery's disturbed that needy children neither read nor write. The zealous Father St. John becomes dispirited by unsuccessful attempts to rally interest in building a one-room cinder block school. He resigns the priesthood to enlist in the U.S. Navy. Serving in Viet Nam, thoughts that motivated his determination to protect native Catholics from Communist adversaries evaporate when he witnesses the carnage. A wounded warrior, tastes the anguish of the lie of war. Montgomery reworks the plan--he'll throttle his intensity by observing more and participating less in life's serious aspects. He'll pursue the secular lifestyle. Back home, the civilian scrimps by on low wages scrambling to break into professional golf. He discovers a special lady living two spaces down in his Southern California trailer court. Following a courtship punctuated by disturbing anonymous threats, they marry. A son and daughter complete Montgomerys secular dreams, until in their teen years the St. John's marriage-survival needle falls ever closer to zero. A dangerous shooting, initiated by his wife, and her later attempt at suicide, have his children demonstrating insecurity that further unhinges him. Her mental condition deteriorates, and Montgomery can risk no more of his wife's acting out her psychotic impulses. Finally her bizarre behavior traumatizes both husband and children. He seeks conservator status and she is court-ordered to psychiatric confinement. In two years she dies. Since birth, Montgomery has been denied the particulars surrounding his biological father. When Mother dies, taking with her his long sought-after secret, an accidental discovery provides the puzzle piece that leads to an individual who never knew he'd fathered a son. The man and his wife form a fast relationship with Montgomery and their new-found grandchildren. A substantial trust is arran