Mitch L. Gohman
The fictional saga
of the multicultural, polyamorous, DeVincente family is a long one,
necessitating multiple books to convey the tale.
Decision Point covers the period
from the 1960's through 2008, when the family endures many personal
hardships and somehow survives not only those but also a disaster of
national proportions with worldwide consequences.
In surviving this
disaster this group must question their own ethics and beliefs and
they find that life is not always as simple or pleasant as they would
like to believe.
Mitch L. Gohman draws his inspiration from a long lifetime of experiences, using some of them in his novels. He has worked at a number of jobs, from newspaper carrier to bus mechanic to convenience store clerk to oil well roustabout and he published a weekly paper for the private school he attended at the age of ten.
His writings about the polyamorous lifestyle are also drawn from his personal experiences: as a result he's a member of
www.polymatchmaker.comHe is currently homeless, while writing the second novel, living near Fullerton, CA.
Chapter 1 – Checkpoint
October
1, 2008
Roadside
checkpoint
The impending dot loomed on the horizon and Mike sighed as he got
closer. Another security checkpoint, he thought.
The heater in his van had been working overtime with the weather and
the checkpoint they’d already passed and while checkpoints were
always a bit different they would always be the same: something to
block the road, a line of vehicles off to one side or the other, a
contact soldier to examine the vehicle’s passengers and another
soldier to check its' contents.
It
could get nasty when there were others. Sometimes they were Military
Police and sometimes they weren’t. This time they were. Mike pulled
up slowly until the contact person signaled him to stop. It was a
woman.
She
approached the driver’s side window and motioned for Mike to roll it down. “Put
it in park and turn off your engine. All adults out of the vehicle,
please, and form a line on this side of the vehicle and have your
dogs remain in the vehicle please,” she said.
They
did so and Mike shook his head at the thought of the heater having to
work so hard. He didn’t know how much longer it would last and
there weren’t many places left where he could get it repaired when
it broke down, which he knew would happen eventually.
She
stood in front of him and said, "Identification and travel
documents, please." Mike handed her a small pile of
identifications.
“Do
you have a problem with security checkpoints, mister?” she asked.
“No, I have a concern about how long my heater will last with the
entire van being cooled off at every checkpoint,” he said.
“At
least you have a heater, sir,” she replied and he noticed her red,
runny nose and a light frost on her eyebrows.
Holding
up the stack of ID’s she asked, “Which of these is yours?” “The
one on top. We figured that it would make it easier on all of us as
well as the contact person to simply put them in the correct order
and line up in the same way.
That’s
why the Army put a woman in charge of contact, isn’t it? To make
things run smoother?”
“And
how do you think that makes things run smoother?” she asked. “You
check my ID and hand it back to me. When you get to the end of the
line we pass them back up to me. It makes it simple and orderly,”
he said.
She
handed the pile back to him and said, “Pass them back. I want them
handed to me individually.” Mike shrugged and did so and he fully
understood why she wanted it that way. Holding a small pile of
documents was a distraction that he wouldn’t have tolerated,
either.
She
looked hard into his eyes before asking him, "Where are you
going?" and Mike responded, "To a family reunion."
"And what about them?" she asked. "Them, too,"
replied Mike. "It's a big family."
She
looked him over, checking him against his identification, while
Mike's thoughts were taking him back to what a family is and how they
belonged in his family. It was a story that started quite some time
ago…
