Character Profile: Cap and the Willmington boys Cap was somewhere in the southern Atlantic Ocean when he got the call that his wife was dead. The Faulkland War off the southern coast of Argentina, the Queen’s mission, and his own grieving soul would have to wait. He had children to take care of. Trying to be the best father he could to his little girl and three boys was no easy chore. Cap raised them in the only way he knew how, from behind the sheen of an oaken bartop. Never one to yearn for a life among the shots and the suds, Cap’s daughter left for love in Ireland. His three boys, the Willmington’s, stayed in London to run the family business, a pub, appropriately called Willmington & Sons. Knowing full well their father’s plan to one day give the bar to Chris, Seth and Bobby followed an Irishman to Germany to run an Irish-themed pub in the city of Stuttgart. There was no way for them to predict that meeting a pair of wandering travelers at a beirgarten by the train station would change all of their lives forever. Excerpt from Social Studies: A Novel - Chapter 39 “Jim reached a free hand across the table. He touched hers, and she looked up to him. Her eyes were saturated. “We’re going to be okay. Just do what you’ve been doing.” “And what is that, Jim?” she said as she dabbed the corners of her eye with a small napkin. “Follow me.” Sofia squeezed his hand and smiled. A few minutes later, the Texan and the Argentinean made their way, beers in tow, over to the table of the Englishman. As they approached the table, the jovial conversation between the Englishman and his friends stopped, and they all four looked at Jim and Sofia with a cheerful curiosity. “Hi, guys,” Jim began, “my girlfriend and I heard you guys talking, and it’s been a while since we were involved in a real conversation with strangers in English, and we were wondering if we might sit with you.” The four men at the table looked at each other cautiously. A few awkward seconds passed. Jim continued, “Uh...the next round is on me?” “Yeah! All right then!” the four men at the table exclaimed as Sofia laughed. “Sit right here then, love,” the Englishman said with a jolly tone, motioning to Sofia and patting on the empty wooden chair next to his. Jim went back to the window and ordered six more beers. It was the last bit of money they had. Over the next few hours, Jim and Sofia got to know their new drinking buddies quite well. The Englishman, whose name was Seth Willmington, was there with his brother Bobby. They were joined by an Irishman, Patty, and a German, Walter. All were in their late twenties to early thirties, aside from Walter, who was considerably older, and they all seemed like wonderful intelligent men.” The Willmington boys, in reality, are three friends of mine from college. Chris Dahmann, Bobby Willmington, and Seth Lewis, my brother. Cap shared many of the wonderful qualities of my father-in-law, the man the book’s dedicated to, Randy Howard. Willmington & Sons is one of the few fictional places in the novel. But I, for one, wish with all of my heart that it was real. There’s something about the inside of that pub that feels like home.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 00:30:03 +0000
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