Finding a treasure Trove

The author with John Pierucki I never expected to open a treasure trove last fall when I sat behind a table at a church craft fair.

I expected to sell a few books.  Nothing more.

But then John Pierucki stopped in front of my table.  He looked down at Code: Elephants on the Moon and his brow wrinkled as he asked what my book was about.  When I told him that it was about World War II, he frowned a little more deeply and told me that he worked with codes during World War II, and this wasn't one of the codes.

Yes it was, I said.  It was one that the Free French broadcast from London over the BBC to members of the Resistance in France.  This was a code used just before D-Day.  

John's eyebrows shot up.  He told me that his ship had gone down on D-Day. Although he wasn't there - he had been left back in Italy - he'd lost many friends on that day.

That was it for me.  I picked up a pen and signed a book to John, thanking him for his service.  No one has ever done so much to earn a free book.

I met with John yesterday for lunch.  He's packed a lot of life into his 90 years, and he has a lot of stories to tell.  Some of them are real doozies.  John served his country for 30 years as a translator and cryptographer, and he's been a lot of places and talked with a lot of interesting people.

Talking with John was like opening a treasure chest of story ideas.  I'm hoping to open that chest a lot this year and run my fingers through the contents.

There's a lot of gold and precious gems in what he has to say.