Jack is thirty-five and single once again. He is not, as he as quick to point out, going through a midlife crisis. Still, it would be nice to have a partner.<br><br>So he sets out on an adventure to find the one-time love of his life, Bing, a man he hasn't set eyes on in more than fifteen years, a man who has seemingly vanished off the face of the planet. With the help of his family and friends -- plus the family dog and, of all people, his high school bully -- he goes searching for Bing, only to unearth an ages-old mystery that puts them all in grave danger.<br><br>In this hysterically funny tale of romance and self-discovery, the question remains right up to the surprise ending: can we return to our past in order to create better our future?

Midlife Crisis

We had lunch, we went home. I went to my room. I felt twelve. I felt awful. I called Monroe and filled him in.


There was silence on the other end of the line before he said, “So, do you think he’s, you know, dead?” The last word came out in a whisper, though it rang out all too clear.


“Bing?” I replied. “I…I don’t know. But Rosemary O’Malley clearly is and no one has seen the father or the son. One and one generally equals two, but I’d still like to believe he’s just lying low, living off the grid.”


“Big Sur would be the place to do it,” Monroe said. “Easy to disappear down there, to get lost in the woods and stay lost.”


I nodded to myself. What he said was true. I’d been to Big Sur many times over the years. No cell phone coverage. Nothing but high trees and massive cliffs and endless ocean. If you had to go off the grid, you couldn’t ask for a more scenic place to do it in. The grid, in fact, stopped around Carmel and barely edged beyond that.


Chapter 20