Watermelon Dreams

Book excerpt: Although Watermelon Dreams evolved over several years, the finished book developed during the present coronavirus pandemic. Documenting the evolution of a sprawling, often eccentric, mid-American family, its heart, or central section, depicts another time of crisis: WWII, especially as witnessed by a very young child. Based on stories told to me as I was growing up, intimate memories arose in the act of writing as vivid, sensual recollections and fears of the unknown. Emotions for which I did not yet have words. Urgent voices on the radio were terrifying, especially since I knew somehow they were related to my absent soldier father. Feelings I did not understand, like jealousy and envy, combined with an anxiety that surfaced in hysterical nightmares. Throughout this instability and insecurity was the solid protection of my maternal grandparents, the love of my mother and older brother, the feeling of being sheltered from the chaos around us—in other words, family. Such is the comfort we seek now, and in the end will sustain us.