Elisha's Bones - Don Hoesel [120]
While the sun disappears, I dig a hole in the solid ground beneath the sand cover. It is hard work, but I don’t mind. It’s a penance of sorts. I dig it deep, each shovelful of earth like an offering. And when I’ve finished, when the desert air has turned cool and sweat runs down my body, I pick up the bones, wrapped in burlap, and drop them in the hole. And as the disturbed dirt falls back on them, I do not feel any guilt, no sense of loss. I work until the earth is packed down.
When I return to the truck, I toss the shovel into the back and then take Espy’s hand in mine, and we stay there until the light is gone.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people deserve my heartfelt thanks for helping to make Elisha’s Bones a reality. But I’m going to start with those who have the power to say yes or no to more books! I’m grateful that Dave Long decided to bring Elisha’s Bones to Bethany House, and especially thankful for all the hard work he did to make it a better book. Luke Hinrichs did the same—editing this thing until it became respectable. Thanks, Dave and Luke, and everyone else at Bethany House, for all the effort you put in. I’m looking forward to doing it again!
I signed with my agent, Les Stobbe, in 2004, and he spent the next four years sending out one manuscript after another. Thanks, Les, for sending that last one out, and for your constant encouragement through the process.
Almost fourteen years ago I wrote a book with my friend Rob Heidel and, while that one never found a publisher, working with Rob taught me a lot. Thanks, Rob. It’s quite possible I wouldn’t be sitting here typing up an acknowledgments list if we hadn’t written that first page.
Back in 2004, Michael Snyder all but dragged me to a writers’ conference, where I met and signed with my agent. A year or so later, he introduced me to a little online community called Faith in Fiction, where I first met Dave Long. So I guess it’s fair to say that if you don’t like the book, Mike bears almost as much blame for that as I do. Thanks, Mike—especially for the countless critiques I’ve asked of you over the years.
If anyone has waded through more of my writing than Mike, it’s Ryan Burkholder. Ryan has slogged through one manuscript or short story after another and has offered needed encouragement, advice, and a literary perspective. Thanks, Ryan.
Sarah Wood, Angela Fox, Jerry Fox, and Chris Ude have also been helpful critics over the last few years. Thanks, all, for reading the pre-published stuff.
Thanks to the Laufer clan—Chris, Patty, Matt, Lisa, Bill, Kathy, and Tim—and Russ Gullekson, and Dave and Mary Ferrini, for late nights and much laughter.
Thanks to author par excellence Jeanette Windle, who was kind enough to say some nice things about a very poorly written book of mine (not this one!) years ago. Encouragement like that can make a guy keep writing until he gets it right.
Mike Rajczak was the first person who encouraged me to become a writer, way back in middle school. Thanks, Mike.
Thanks to Mandy Peitz for contributing to the cover artwork.
Finally, to Alyssa and Aidan—thanks, kids, for making it a whole lot of fun to be a dad. I love you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don Hoesel, when not writing, works in the communications department of a large company. He holds a B.A. in Mass Communication from Taylor University and has published short fiction in Relief Journal. Don lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee, with his wife and two children. Elisha’s Bones is his first novel.
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