The Summertime Adventures of the Seward School Bombers - Tapa blanda

“The Summertime Adventures of the Seward School Bombers,” is the story of a group of twelve-year-old boys living in the small southern Arizona town of Santa Elena in the summer of 1968. There was war in Vietnam, race riots in the south, and preparations to land a man on the moon, but none of that affected the gang much, who’s motto, “All for naught, and not for long!” was a variation of the one from that other group of fun loving young men, The Three Musketeer’s. Their adventures included little league baseball, tennis ball bazooka wars in the arroyo, combat missions against the hated class tattletale’s house, and Saturday afternoons at the Fox Theater for Marshall K-GUN’s lil’ cowpokes. But then, after devising an elaborate plan to finally catch the ghost who had been haunting the old Mansfield place for years, and therefore becoming world famous and maybe even getting their own Saturday morning T.V. show, the story takes an unexpected turn which could possibly change their lives forever! The cast of characters include; Jeff “Jagger” Howell, the fearless, spiritual leader of the S.S.B.s, who stutters, has a wandering eye, a scar on his belly from a crocodile bite he got while escaping from Mother Higgin’s reform school (it actually was from a kidney surgery he had as a baby), and a heart of gold. Johnny Caruso, the level headed narrator of the story who attempts to keep the gang in line, but fails miserably, and has his own problems dealing with an overbearing mother, aunt and grandmother, who while sitting around the kitchen table gossiping, appeared to him to be just like “them three witches, brewin’ up all sorts of trouble in the first scene of Shakespeare’s “Hambone,” as well as a nosey little sister and an obnoxious golden retriever that had a nasty habit of biting you in the rear end if you turned your back on him. There is Ira “Big I” Goldstein, the pessimist that never pulls any punches; Neil Wales, a mean and unpredictable kid who was a genius at coming up with nicknames and devious plans, but not much good at anything else, “like one of them idiotic savants I heard about on P.B.S.” Emiliano De La Rosa, or just “Rosie,” the cautious Mexican kid who was very, very chubby, NOT FAT, because he had a “glandular problem.” “Yeah, that big fat one between your ears that makes you eat like a pig,” according to Neil. There’s the fidgety Pakistani kid, Bampu “Creepy” Bota, the clubs technical adviser who’s so smart it’s creepy, and Mark “Chicken Coop” Cooper, who likes to hide behind his large pal Rosie and develops uncontrollable hiccups at the first sign of danger. Other distinguished members of the Santa Elena population include; “The Losers,” a group of tough but not so bright teenagers from the bad part of town that were, “almost entirely responsible for the new wing of the Cochise County Juvenile Center all by themselves;” Mengo and Pato, the bumbling cousins that acted as the entire Sheriff’s Department as well as truant officers, Little League umpires and dog catchers; Dan Dunn, christened by Neil as “Damn Dumb,” the friendly but “slow” RENT-A-COP that doubles as head assistant usher at the old Fox theater; Senor Villasenor, the older man about town with all the “Viejas,” who owned and operated the only taxi service in Santa Elena—his 1957 Chevy Bel-Air station wagon; as well as Jenny Darling, the red haired, angel faced object of Johnny C’s not so secret affection, that causes him so much grief with the guys. My name is Jim Tooley and I am a family physician in Tucson, Arizona. I have always held my childhood friends and experiences close to my heart, often thinking of them with joy and laughter. I therefore set out to write a work of fiction loosely based on my youthful days, in hopes that others also may find pleasure in them. I have written, The Seward School Bombers, in the same spirit as Stephen King’s, The Body, Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Mark Twain’s, Huckleberry Finn.

J. E. Tooley is a family physician born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. He has three very bright children (all gone from home now, unfortunately) and four very dumb dogs (all still around, unfortunately!). He likes restoring old muscle cars, collecting civil war stuff, and coaching little league. His wife Paula puts up with him because as far as he can tell after 30 years she doesn’t know any better. They live in the Santa Catalina Mountains just north of Tucson, where, when not in his office seeing sick people, he spends most of his time picking up after the dogs and dodging assorted tarantualas, rattlesnakes, and gila monsters.