March 1935.

Despite the cool night of early spring, the windows were open in the sitting room of a villa in a quiet seaside town in southern England. The fresh air and slight breeze gently billowed the curtains as a man in a lounge chair stared at the wall.

He was surrounded by books he had purchased during better days… when he was the toast of t...

The stars glistened above him, only slightly overshadowed by the glare of the moon.

In the distance, he could hear the coyotes howl but the sound was drowned out by thousands of cattle wandering north.

His plan was to return to the United States once this job was done.

But life is what happens when you’re making other plans.

...

I still remember the way the cold bit at my cheeks as I stepped off the bus.

I was in high school, and winter in Alberta meant darkness clinging to the morning and the crunch of snow under every boot.

Our high school had organized a ski day, and most of us had been buzzing about it for weeks. I had never skied before but couldn’t wait to hit the...