Let me introduce myself. I am a 78 year-old retired newspaper compositor. I always wanted more in life than what my trade allowed me. When I was 16, I drew a western comic strip. I submitted it to the art department of the Chicago Tribune. They encouraged me to apply for an apprenticeship in their art department when I graduated from high school. My family moved to Ohio. I did not follow up with this offer. Forty years ago, I wrote a children’s book. My two young daughters loved it. Disney did not.

Ben Bailey could have been the teenage life of the author, with slight variations. I did enlist in the Army Airborne in 1950 for a different reason. This is my last chance to create something in my life.