Counterpoint
by
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Pan American flight 1042 slammed onto the Zurich Kloten Airport tarmac, bounced, floated momentarily, settled back to earth and plowed through the snow that had blanketed the runway. Quinn felt the bounce, but struggled to relinquish the dream he was enjoying. He slowly sat up, lifted the window shade and peered out at a cold Swiss dawn. He smiled at the heavy snow falling. Snow is good, he thought, can’t wait to ski. The attractive flight attendant held his gaze longer than was normal with a disembarking passenger. Quinn was used to this; most women found his eyes both curious and attractive. The color of his right eye was sky blue, cerulean his mother called it, while the left was as beguiling as sunlight and shifted from hazel circled by honey to flashes of yellow. “Where will you ski, Mr. Norquist?” she asked, her gaze searching his hazel eye. “In Lech,” Quinn replied politely. “It’s a magical place,” she exclaimed enthusiastically, “I wish I could go with you.” Quinn smiled and ducked out the airplane door. She had long, wonderfully shaped legs and they carried her effortlessly as she glided toward him. He suddenly became very alert. He watched her with fascination. She was younger than the others, and stunning looking. When they arrived at the table, Lars stood and studied her furtively as Tom made the introductions. Her skin was flawless—the color of pure olive oil. Her straight nose seemed large for her oval face but it was balanced by a generous and perfectly shaped mouth. Her tawny brown hair looked dense and fell full to her shoulders. She was tall and thin and Lars liked that. He guessed her to be about ten years younger than he. Cliff swung around to Quinn and with terror in his eyes, shouted, “Quickly, catch your wife and both of you lie flat on the ground. In fact, dig down into the ground. Hurry.” “What is it?” “Killer bees.”
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About the Book
Counterpoint is a story told from five points of view. Book One, is about Lars Norquist, the patriarch, and transports the reader to the first half of the 20th century. It portrays three generations of a family growing up in a small Illinois town. The Norquists build a second home on Emerald Lake in Wisconsin and it is here, at their lake lodge, that they bond as a family and develop the values and aspirations that carry them into the second half of the century. Lars’s story grapples with his growing awareness of his mortality and the need to make use of what time remains of his life. Book Two tells the story of Lars’s son Quinn and his life in the tumultuous 1960s. It’s a tale of perfect love and dangerous adventure and sweeps from skiing in Austria to the fjords of Norway, from San Francisco to the jungles of Malaysia, to living in Singapore, and ultimately confronts the real and crushing misjudgments by the United Sates government of geopolitics in Southeast Asia.
About the Author
My life shadowed parts of this novel. I grew up in Northern Illinois and spent summers on a Wisconsin lake. After graduation from Dartmouth College, I spent three years with the Army Counter Intelligence Corps in Japan. During the 1960s, I lived in Singapore, where three of my children were born, followed by seven years residing in London and traveling extensively throughout Europe. My Swedish-born wife and I now live on the north end of Lake Tahoe. Our twin daughters were raised here. We all ski, bike, hike, and kayak in one of nature’s most exquisite settings.