Making Sense of Gasoline Pellets and Alzheimer’s Disease

With the price of oil hitting US$115 per barrel in the world market because of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Carl Kegerreis’ explosive tour de force, I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets, seems almost prophetic. Its revolutionary concept of gasoline pellets as an alternative source of energy, although fictional, is what the US and the entire world need at this time of rising gasoline prices. Strongmen like King Hassmen Tavio come and go but their desire to dominate keeps the world in suspense. It is up to unlikely heroes like the main character, Haywood Runyan, to foil their grand schemes.

The gasoline pellets were a legacy of the scientist, Oley Washington Sr. to the world. Before his untimely death, he entrusted the pellets’ safekeeping to his son, Oley Washington Jr., who was about to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits as an escaped prisoner of war in Vietnam.  Hitting two birds with one stone, Oley Jr. was to deliver in secret the highly sought-after gasoline pellets directly to the American president on the day he was to receive the award. In an unfortunate twist of events, Oley Jr. was violently assaulted by a group of protesters and lost his memory. After more than a decade of wretched existence as a vagabond, Haywood found Oley Jr. and brought him back to the mainstream along with the precious gasoline pellets. It led to a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the sinister Tavio and his henchmen with Haywood and his beautiful wife, Lilly, caught squarely in the middle. 

The author, Carl Kegerreis, wrote the book as a tribute to his beloved wife who suffered from dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Interestingly, it was the war hero, Oley Jr. who lost his memory instead of Lilly, whose character closely resembled the author’s wife. Nonetheless, it is a story that was forged by the author from the emotional and physical trauma foisted by the debilitating Alzheimer’s disease on the author and his wife. It is a celebration of the triumph of the indomitable human spirit against overwhelming odds.  

by Carl Kegerreis