An Inchworm Takes Wing

by Robert Hays

In the tranquil solitude of a darkened Room 12 in the ICU on the sixth floor of Memorial Hospital’s Wing C, a mortal existence is drawing to an end. His head and torso swathed in bandages, his arms and legs awkwardly positioned in hard casts and layers of heavy gauze, he’s surrounded by loved ones yet unable to communicate, isolated within his own thoughts and memories. He does not believe himself to be an extraordinary man, simply an ordinary one, a man who’s made choices, both good and bad. A man who was sometimes selfish, sometimes misguided, sometimes kind and wise. A man who fought in a war in which he lost a part of his soul, who then became a teacher and worked hard to repair the damage. When faced with the end, how does one reconcile the pieces of an ordinary life? Does a man have the right to wish for wings to carry him to a summit he believes he doesn’t deserve to reach?

177 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 1, 2020

About the author

About the Author
Robert Hays has been a newspaper reporter, public relations writer, magazine editor, and university professor and administrator. A native of Illinois, he taught in Texas and Missouri and retired in 2008 from a long journalism teaching career at the University of Illinois. He holds three degrees, including an interdisciplinary Ph.d., from Southern Illinois University and is a U.S. Army veteran. He has spent a great deal of time in South Carolina, the home state of his wife Mary, and has been a member of the South Carolina Writers Workshop. His publications include academic journal and popular periodical articles and nine previous books, including one published in paperback edition under a new title and his collaborative work with Gen. Oscar Koch, G-2: Intelligence for Patton. Robert and Mary live in Champaign, Illinois. They have two sons and a grandson and share (long story!) a cat named Eddie with the family next door.

Reviews

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s probably obvious to most people that any particular book is going to resonate with some people more than others, depending on the specifics of the reader’s life and experiences. I suspect those who have been in the military, especially during war, would be at the top of that list. But really anyone of a certain age who is old enough to remember the Vietnam War or anyone who has had friends or family serve in the military during an armed conflict are likely to find this story speaks to them. If you’ve come close to death and done the cliched evaluation of your life, you’ll get it too. But ultimately a person doesn’t have to have experienced something close to what a book’s protagonist has to imagine themselves in that position and learn from it. This is one that everyone could benefit from to some degree.

Hopefully without saying too much about the plot, An Inchworm Takes Wing is the story of a man who was in a bad car accident and is now in the hospital, alive and able to think, but unaware of what is going on around him. He knows he’s alive, but doesn’t know how likely he is to survive or become conscious of anything outside of his head. He’s done some good in life, but also some things he’s ashamed of. He’s struggling in his own mind, hoping he’ll have a chance to try to correct or at least apologize for some of his mistakes and haunted by those things he’ll never be able to fix. In the meantime, his loved ones are holding vigil in his room, going through their own struggles.

This book is unique, both the story and the structure (how many books have you read where the protagonist was unconscious), but it should get you thinking about life, what’s important, and possibly even what you hope your own legacy to be.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **