My Water Path

by Timothy Joseph

  Julie gave me a strange, if satisfied, look, and the children just giggled and nodded their heads.

  The following evening, Ellie and Moses fixed dinner at the cottage, and that was the way it was; dinners were shared until Ellie went off to college, and a four-place setting changed to three. The next year, the place setting was just two. The only change I made to the cottage was to move the framed articles and Moses’ degrees to the walls of the study in the main house.

  In my office at the courthouse, I hung a photo of Moses sitting in his chair on the front deck of the houseboat, a book in his hand, looking out over the river. I don’t remember when he had first quoted Martin Luther King Jr., but he had repeated it often. Each time I glanced at that photo, saw his hint of a smile and the Mississippi in the background, I could hear his voice clearly. “Judge a person by the content of their character.”

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  My Water Path

  MY WATER PATH TOOK ME TO a wise old black man who sharpened saws. However, far beyond steel against stone, he sharpened my sense of worth and gave me self-esteem. He honed it, shaped it, and bestowed a keen edge on my awareness of life’s true riches, the very purpose of living. He wasn’t a prophet or an educator, yet he was much more. He educated me in the principles of goodness, showed me how to formulate ideals, polished my values, and tutored me in ethics, without my ever knowing. He was my mentor, teacher, friend, and my grandpa. He taught me empathy, how to walk in another man’s shoes.

  I close my eyes today and see this pillar of a man as clearly as when I was eleven years old, challenging the huge waves in his tiny skiff, rain and hail pelting his face, his wrinkled hand reaching out for me. I gaze through the window of this old houseboat and there he sits, elbows on the rocking chair arms, one hand under his chin, the other holding a book, his smile genuine, his dark eyes gleaming, his words so powerful—his love beyond love.

  Every moment of my twenty years as father of my two children, I have tried to be their loving dad, mentor, teacher, and best friend; but more importantly, I strived to be their Mississippi Moses. Yet, no matter how hard I worked at it, and continue to do so, I shall never accomplish what was so natural for him. How fortunate I was to happen upon the path that took me to Moses Kent. I will always need his words, his wisdom, his conviction, his goodness, but mostly his strength of character—and I will always have them.

  For as I sit in this beautiful cove and watch ospreys soar high above me, inside my chest soars the heart of the man who raised me up to be more than I can be—my Mississippi Moses.

  Thank You

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  About the author

  Timothy Joseph began his career as a high school science teacher. He earned a PhD, was a college professor, corporate manager, senior scientist, and weekly newspaper columnist. He is currently a freelance technical writer, and volunteers his time giving Creative Writing talks for local schools and other organizations.

  His debut novel, Four-Fifths, was published in 2000, for which he won the Word Weaver Award of Excellence. His second book, Reflections On Love, was published in 2002, and Four-Fifths Endowed, (sequel to Four-Fifths) was published in 2005. In 2009 his nonfiction work, Historical Photos of the Manhattan Project, was published by Turner Publishing.

  Tim received a Technical Communication Award of Excellence, and his literary writing was recognized by the Tennessee Arts Commission. His goal is to use his literary voice and style to bring to the page the intense emotions of life, especially love, happiness, and passion. This novel was built upon Tim’s youth in the south where he grew up surrounded by prejudice and bigotry. Even as a child he could not comprehend racial disdain. This story is a testament to his love of humanity and belief in the equality of all. Tim and his wife Marsha live in Rockwood, TN. www.timothyjoseph.net.

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  Martin is a four hundred year old vampire. Together with his son, Christian, he protects the idyllic nature of the coastal town of Skerries, for a significant cost, the blood of the strangers who outstay their welcome. Martin knows his soul is cursed and that, when the time comes, he will burn for eternity in the depths of hell but he strives to ensure that Christian will never have to take a human life and thus be reunited with his human mother in heaven. Revered, respected and feared, the town's people know little about the vampires that coexist with them except that when they are called upon, they come. This is something that the seemingly unassuming town Mayor manipulates for his own benefit. It is not until he learns of the forbidden love between Christian and his daughter and the mysterious death of one of the town's teenagers, that the Mayor and residents turn on their supernatural guardians.

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  Breakout: The Zombie Apocalypse Book 2. In this sequel to Outbreak: The Zombie Apocalypse, Matt Hawkins strives for redemption following Britain's first zombie outbreak. His internal struggles and his psychological analysis of those around him lead him to question the ethics of humanity and himself as he fights to survive the apocalypse.

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