Carl Kegerreis, whose wife passed away due to Alzheimer’s disease, writes an uncanny and beguiling narrative about a man who lost his memory because of amnesia in I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets. The author may have his wife at the back of his mind when he brought the character of Red to life. As a drifter who survives by climbing into and scouring for left-over food in the neighborhood dumpsters, Red is lucky to be alive. That the memory loss that took away more than ten years of his life was the aftermath of an ill-fated incident is tragic and sobering.
Twist Upon Twist, Tragedy Upon Tragedy
Red is not the scavenger that he purports to be. Underneath the rags and the filthy appearance is a decent man and a legitimate war hero who is a victim of unfortunate circumstances. He crashed during the Vietnam War and spent time in a squalid prison camp for prisoners of war. After masterminding an escape for himself and the other prisoners, he was brought back to the United States to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the most distinguished military award for bravery in combat. On his way to receive the award, he was set upon by a band of student war protesters. Beaten and kicked to the head, the injuries he suffered left him with amnesia. He has been wandering from place to place ever since after being given up for lost by his parents.
A Chance at Redemption
Red could have gone on to become a pillar of the US military if fate had not played a cruel trick on him on the day that he was to receive his medal. All is not lost, however. Kegerreis introduced the husband-and-wife tandem of Haywood and Lilly Runyan. Lilly Runyan resembles most and is closer in personality to Kegerreis’s beloved wife. In another serendipitous twist, Haywood and Lilly will become the key to Red’s redemption.
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