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In Memory

of

Brian William Perkel ...

June 24, 1980 - August 13, 2011

“Out on the ocean sailing away

I can hardly wait to see you come of age

But I guess, we’ll both just have to be patient

‘Cause it’s a long way to go, a hard row to hoe.”

from “Beautiful Boy”

John Lennon, 1980

Books by HONEY PERKEL

A Thousand Summers trilogy: A Thousand Summers

Secrets at the Cove

A Place Called Paradise

Between Two Shores

Mystery: The House of Sand

Historical novel: The Faithful Daughter

A memoir: Just Breathe

I walked the floors when he was ill,

Caressed his face till he grew still,

Cradled him in my loving arms,

Prayed to the angels there’d come no harm.

I baked sugar cookies and birthday cakes

Sprinkled with candies, sweet for the take.

I made him laugh, read Peter Pan,

And chased away the Boogie Man.

But life steered us into disarray,

Shattering my angels day after day.

First trouble at home and then in school

Now he was in jail following their rules.

Baseball, piano, and school gave way

A troubled kid he soon portrayed.

Count them, nine therapists all in a row

Courtrooms and judges all came in tow.

I wiped his tears while I dried my own,

And then one day I stood alone.

There with his friends, strangers not a few,

Telling of a man I hardly knew.

Gone was the boy, his “demons” would cease.

He was flying with the angels, finally at peace.

written by Honey Perkel

I was standing in a sea of warmth among these strangers, the sun

bearing down on us at Overlook Park. Gazing across the hilly sprawl

of emerald grass and trees, my mind worked back to when this

story began. The summer of 1980 when Brian was born or maybe

before that. When I’d been another person. Innocent. Unaware.

Perhaps, the story really began in July of 1951 when I was born and

began to dream. Maybe then.