Hand-Me-Down Jack

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People used to say that Uncle Martin was born too late in life, that he should have been born at least a hundred years earlier. They said he was pigheaded and old fashioned and chose to do everything the hardest way possible. But Jack wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing, really—Uncle Martin seemed perfectly fine to him.

After receiving the shocking news that his uncle, Martin Eliason, has had a heart attack, Jack Weston races along the freeway in a two hour panic, passing every vehicle in his path to get to Martin’s side when his early childhood memories take over his mind… He was only three years old when his dad shot his mom—then called 911 and turned the gun on himself, leaving Jack an instant orphan. And Uncle Martin, Jack’s only known relative, was called to pick him up at the Kandiyohi County Police Station.

Uncle Martin’s ninety acre farm was run-down and all the buildings were weathered and gray, and the only running water came from the kitchen sink; the outhouse was outback, nestled in the woods. Everything Uncle Martin owned was either handed down from generation to generation or purchased second-hand at garage sales and auctions.

Jack lived a life every boy could only wish or dream of living; riding with Uncle Martin on the antique, crank-start tractors, playing piano together in the small office off the living room, dancing to the music coming from the old wind up phonograph, and hanging out in the blacksmith shop watching Uncle Martin work, which is also where they played poker on Wednesday nights with Uncle Martin’s quirky and quarrelsome daily drop-in friends, Henry, George, and Screwy-Lewie.

Jack is brought out of his childhood memories and back to reality when he arrives at the Willmar hospital to find out that Uncle Martin is being airlifted to the St. Cloud hospital; another hour and a half race away. Will Jack make it in time?

Hand-Me-Down Jack is a gripping, sometimes comical story of a boy and his uncle and their journey together.