Designated Hitter

Planners in an unnamed intelligence group near Washington have made their choice. She is a young widow, living with her daughter and her dog, close to her roots and her mom and dad, in central Florida. She teaches a language class and works on her doctorate at the nearby university. But none of that interests them. What is important is that she speaks Mandarin. And more importantly, she was one of the first women in the American military ever admitted to sniper school. That is why they will send her to China, after the most powerful and dangerous dictator in the world.

In my life, I have been - in no special order - a sheet metal and construction worker, a college drop-out, undergraduate, graduate and professor, house painter, artist, architectural draftsman, shortstop, college tennis coach, dance teacher, expatriate, welfare recipient, son, brother, father and grandfather. The explanation for this diversity may be simple: DNA testing reveals a kinship with both Tolstoy and Jimmy Buffet and that I am 2.7 per cent Neanderthal.