Love, Devotion, and Long-Kept Secrets

When Carl Kegerreis wrote I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets, he could not have anticipated that the characters of this sumptuous novel will become larger than life. If one talks about love and devotion, the tight bond exhibited by the leading characters, Haywood and Lilly Runyan is unparalleled. Lilly’s spontaneous revelation of a dark secret that she had kept hidden for years strengthened her relationship with Haywood even more, instead of eliciting cracks. The leading sentiment that love can, indeed, endure all things must have been plucked by the author from the ideals of his late wife who passed away because of Alzheimer’s disease.

A Love to Last

Haywood Runyan met his wife in the most improbable of circumstances. As an up-and-coming FBI agent, he was in a rush to attend his first court hearing and had only stopped to get coffee. When he inadvertently knocked down to the ground the plastic cup held by the woman standing in the doorway, he did not know that it was to be the start of a romantic relationship that will define his life. He and Lilly have been inseparable from the time Haywood decided to buy her a fresh cup of coffee in exchange for the one he spilled. 

Secrets and Trials

Like the author who experienced the agony of his wife’s bout with Alzheimer’s disease, Haywood and Lilly’s relationship was also tested by tribulation. Lilly, who was a college war protester so many years ago, was involved in a beating incident. Chancing upon Captain Oley Washington, Jr., the group she was with nearly beat the war hero to death. Although she made a supreme effort to stop the beating, the thought that she had not done enough to save Oley had always hounded her. When fate brought her, Haywood, and Oley together, she confessed her role in the dastardly deed to Haywood. Instead of blaming her, Haywood accepted her explanation that she had not meant the incident to happen. His love for Lilly triumphed over any other consideration. That Oley regained his memory because of Lilly’s intervention served as the icing on the cake.

With an inspiring story of love, devotion, and acceptance, the author has transcended himself in this literary work of art. 

by Carl Kegerreis

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

Love, Gasoline Pellets, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Carl Kegerreis, the author of the exciting novel, I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets, calls his wife the love of his life. Blissfully married for 58 years and 3 months before she passed away on March 1, 2021, the author made his wife his inspiration in creating the persona of one of the main characters, the always gentle Lilly. Accompanying her husband, Haywood Runyan, through thick and thin, Lilly did not shy away from danger and steadfastly stood by the side of her better half. In love and war, Lilly was ever loyal and beautiful.

If only life is a novel, the confines of each of its pages will perpetuate the essence of true love between two people. Old age, sickness, and even death will become an afterthought. However, it is sad but true that the fairy tale with the beautiful ending does not extend to the real world we live in. Nor does love last forever. Our being mortal prevents that from happening. It proved the same for the author. His wife, unfortunately, developed Alzheimer’s disease, an illness with no cure where protein plaques and tangles develop in the brain’s neurons.  When the neurons die, the brain tissues degenerate until the damage to the brain becomes irreversible. The author witnessed, firsthand, his wife’s courageous stand against the creeping disease. Just like in all other cases of Alzheimer’s disease, doctors cannot explain fully how it develops. It is a mystery that perplexes men of science until this very day. Not helping the cause is the fact that the diagnosis is almost always made when the symptoms of dementia, like extreme memory loss and confusion, are already far advanced.  

In memory of his wife who passed away very recently, Carl Kegerreis is donating the proceeds of his book to the Alzheimer’s Research Institute. By doing so, the love that he shared with his wife can shine like a beacon of hope to all those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

Gasoline Pellets, Miracle Cures, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Whether in fact or fiction, miracles happen because one makes a leap of faith. Carl Kegerreis, in his astoundingly remarkable work of fiction, I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets, turns the world on its head with a storyline based on self-reproducing gasoline pellets that synthesize water into gasoline. With the supply of natural gas held hostage by tragic events in Ukraine and the price of crude oil in the global market skyrocketing, the world could benefit from such a miracle. 

Unfortunately, as the author himself apologetically declared in the preface, a work of wonder in the guise of gasoline pellets can only be found in books or inside the author’s colorful imagination. Or does it?

Humankind has always relied on miracles. There is always that underlying belief that a miracle is bound to happen soon. Like Russia will suddenly decide to pull out of Ukraine and that part of the world goes back to normal. A happenstance like that will mean that we will no longer need to pull a rabbit out of a hat or gasoline pellets to solve our energy woes. The author, Carl Kegerreis, had such a momentous event in his life when his wife and the book’s inspiration fell prey to the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease, an illness that requires a miracle because there is no known cure. With an estimated 5.8 million Americans over the age of 65 caught in its wicked grasp in 2020, it is a wonder in itself that no cure has been found since the German neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, first declared its existence more than a century ago.

Like two peas out of the same pod, gasoline pellets and Alzheimer’s disease both need a miracle. It is toward this end that Carl Kegerreis is directing his attention to funding research and efforts to stamp out the disease. Like the ever-hopeful Lilly in his book, it is never really too late to expect a miracle.   

by Carl Kegerreis