Tears too Late eBook Ronald A Lancaster
Download As PDF : Tears too Late eBook Ronald A Lancaster 
It’s California in the 60’s. It is supposed to be a time of peace and love. A poor dysfunctional family manages to survive, but pays a high price due to alcoholism, child abuse and mental illness. True life short stories of survival, friendship, and family. Time or tears do not heal all, as you will see. Stories that make one laugh and cry with every other word. Stories of growing up under unacceptable conditions shine through reflections that caused tears too late. Then suddenly, almost as if I was saying a prayer, I began to speak softly to the officer, saying again and again the words, “No more, no more, no more, please.” So, being the only sane person on the floating prison, I decided that if it came down, it could go back up. I called to my sister, “Come to me,” I said, “and oh yeah, shut up!”
Tears too Late eBook Ronald A Lancaster
This book is made up of short stories of the authors life. I got a kick out of reading the joys of his step-father's quest for the perfect fishing hole. The camping stories were classic, it definitely solidifies for me why I'm a Hilton kind of girl. LOL.! There is great humor, mingled with darker parts of the authors childhood. It is easy to relate to the stories,it takes me back to my childhood remembering those family vacations that I too survived. I would recommend this book to anyone, it's like listening to an old friend telling you stories about their life. I hope the author will have more stores to tell.Product details
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Tags : Buy Tears too Late: Read 12 Books Reviews - Amazon.com,ebook,Ronald A. Lancaster,Tears too Late,Outskirts Press, Inc.,Family & Relationships Abuse Child Abuse,Fiction Biographical
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Tears too Late eBook Ronald A Lancaster Reviews
I have been asked by others to read and/or review self-published books they have written and usually decline. I’m not sure why I accepted the offer from Ron Lancaster, a former Fairfield resident who graduated with Armijo High School's Class of 1966, and who now lives in Florida. His book “Tears Too Late” was published earlier this year and I figured it was a story of difficulties he had overcome in his life and expected it to be just a lot of tragic stories.
I was half-right.
There are some absolutely horrific things that Lancaster experienced growing up and I empathized with his younger self having to deal with them the best he could in a society that back then did not talk about such things openly.
But what was so jarring was how much of the book was, of all things, funny. In fact, a few of the stories I read aloud to others as they absolutely cracked me up. Now, I am aware that laughter is the best medicine as the saying goes, but I am also aware, in fact I have personal experience with, using it as a way to hide from deep pain. I don’t see that as the case with Lancaster though as he both exorcised demons by writing the book and looked back on the peculiar and often amusing stories that families—dysfunctional and “normal”—all have.
The stories that he tells are ones that many families have that may not be worthy of making a Movie Of The Week out of but reflect the lives of people and are the kind that I routinely try to tell in my columns about Fairfield’s past so I was attracted to them. I also liked the way he related them, in a conversational tone.
Ultimately what he said in the acknowledgements summed it up rather succinctly “We all have our stories. We have all lived our lives, lost, won and forgave. I do believe that every day is a new day that presents new possibilities.”
The book starts out with Lancaster’s eldest daughter asking him “You know dad, none of us know much about your family or your background. Why not?” He at that time had been successful in two careers and was retired and knew it was time to explore “the black memories, the forgotten ghosts of my past. Everyone’s life is different, yet at some time in that life, the owner must take control and awaken the reality of owning and managing it.”
“I grew up in the small rural town of Fairfield, California located midway between Sacramento and San Francisco. It was normally quiet and peaceful and had a great year-round climate. I have no clue why it’s one and only main street was named Texas Avenue (sic), but it was. It was then a town of some 40,000 folks with a small police force, maybe three elementary schools and one high school, Armijo Joint Union High School with lots of teenage pranksters,” Lancaster wrote.
Lancaster’s mother, Anna, is described as a “tall, blonde, stubborn, high-strung and a beautiful woman with an addictive personality.” According to Lancaster, she was an alcoholic, prescription drug abuser, and abused him physically and mentally. His stepfather Frank had a torrid love affair with his mother and also loved Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Some of the abusive incidents mentioned in the book include
• His mother having sex in the front seat of the car with another man while Frank was at work and Lancaster, a young child at the time, was in the back seat with cookies.
• Living in Waterman Park as a young boy, his mom slapped him and threw him in a closet for three hours for a minor infraction. He screamed and cried and urinated on himself.
• His mother once accused him of stealing money from her purse and when he denied it, she chased him with a meat cleaver. Then later that evening at the dinner table, she acted and spoke to him like nothing had happened.
• On Mother’s Day, Lancaster spent $3.15 for a black hairbrush with rhinestones embedded in the handle for his mom. She broke it beating him with it.
• She once made him swallow Vick’s Vapor Rub when he was sick.
So with all those horrible things that happened, how could there possibly be any stories that are remotely funny as I asserted? Well, two that stuck out were about Tippy the Wonder Dog. His mother had a deep love for animals in a way that honestly Lancaster wished she was capable of lavishing on him.
Tippy the Wonder Dog was a Chihuahua his mother would drape around the back of her neck like a fox stole. One night after getting a few drinks at Silver’s Tavern, she was driving home and was pulled over by a motorcycle cop. He asked for license and registration and stuck his hand in the car.
“Protecting my mom Tippy clenched onto the little finger of the patrolman’s right hand and continued its hold as the young man recoiled from the vehicle with Tippy the Attack Stole attached in hot finger pursuit. It was a sight to behold,” Lancaster wrote.
Then there was the time Tippy was on a farm and tried to mark his territory on an electrified fence.
“He was immediately slammed with what probably felt like a bolt of lightning. Dad said he even heard a loud crackle and pop, closely followed by Tippy’s yelp for help. He was limp…except for a certain part of his body that was not and remained that way the rest of his life,” Lancaster wrote.
The hardest part of the book to read was the chapter entitled “End of Childhood.” It was about when Lancaster, then 15 years old, was raped by a male cousin. He was told if he told anyone the cousin would kill his parents. Years later the rapist showed up at their house and let them know he had cancer. Lancaster forgave him and told him to go. He then told his father, also dying of cancer, about the molestation. His father did not believe him. Not too long afterwards, Lancaster was notified that his tormentor had committed suicide.
At 16, Lancaster had a breakdown and took pills along with stashed vodka. He threw them up and told no one of his suicide attempt until writing the book.
The book is not in a linear format and the jumping around would be fine if it was easier to piece it together like a Tarantino movie. Also, the juxtaposition of terror and comedy was sometimes out of place, in my view. For example the jarring death of his dad and the emotions it brought up was oddly followed by a light-hearted remembrance called “Dad’s Okie Fast Food.”
But what ultimately comes across is the resilience of the human spirit and how one man worked through the tangled web of an abusive childhood to find peace.
“Perhaps the real lesson is forgiveness. It can be a tremendous burden if your head and heart will not allow it. Without forgiveness, the days and nights stay dark; we can become an enemy to ourselves. Most of all we need to forgive ourselves. We cannot change the past.”
“When I finished this book, I wept, not from fear but from the relief of really letting go of the anchor to my past. I am now able to embrace life from the heart, from an intimate, honest perspective. I’ve learned that fear can destroy you from the inside, can twist your thinking and destroy your ability to love others. I have finally let go of what has held me down for so long. I pray for strength to do the right things for the right reason and not from a need to protect myself as I enjoy the rest of my life. I have finally beaten my fear…what a relief!”
Amazing book! The writer is quite brave and extraordinary! Worth a read
This book was a very good book. It makes you cry and laugh. A must read!!!
The author's style is poignant, sometimes tongue in cheek and even hilarious. But he's always sincere and his story is, while heart breaking, a tribute to how strong the will of a survivor can be. Remarkable story.
I found this to be a most enjoyable reading. The author has demonstrated a gift for special story telling. The book is filled with emotional warmth and sadness along with joyful moments and passion. I look forward to more from this writer.
A great read. Some humor mixed in while trying to survive a terrible childhood. Gift for putting the author's experiences to paper.
Rough hewn but heart felt, these tales are filled with a rare mix of horror and humor, not so much the "woe is me" brand of autobiography, but a bravely detailed account of surviving and thriving.
This book is made up of short stories of the authors life. I got a kick out of reading the joys of his step-father's quest for the perfect fishing hole. The camping stories were classic, it definitely solidifies for me why I'm a Hilton kind of girl. LOL.! There is great humor, mingled with darker parts of the authors childhood. It is easy to relate to the stories,it takes me back to my childhood remembering those family vacations that I too survived. I would recommend this book to anyone, it's like listening to an old friend telling you stories about their life. I hope the author will have more stores to tell.
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