"One More Try" by Jon Kesler
– “Hot damn, I think that did the trick.”
With a trembling lip, I nodded my understanding.
Jon Kesler lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Martha, and his Chocolate Lab, Rooster. As an organization development consultant, Jon has made a career of studying people as individuals and how they interact in groups. Writing for his own enjoyment and the entertainment of others, Jon strives to bring his characters to life through the exploration of personality quirks and the underlying dynamics of what makes people tick in the day-to-day realities of life.
Author’s Talk
John Kesler
My writing, as with my whole life, was shaped by my upbringing in rural northern Wisconsin. As the little brother to two older boys who loved each other dearly and routinely displayed it in fist fights and harsh words, I learned early to stand back and observe as a survival tactic. The ability to watch, listen, and truly understand what’s happening on the stage in front of me has served me well throughout my dual careers as an Air Force officer and an organization development consultant. As Covey said in habit 5, “Seek first to understand.” I’m now bringing that to my writing.
A motor head through and through, my oldest brother, Keith, who is portrayed in my story came of age in the muscle car era of the late ‘60s. His penchant for hot MOPARS and go-anywhere 4-wheel drives has followed him into his 70’s. As an idolizing kid brother, much of my time was spent hanging around the garage watching him work on one of his cars or 4x4s. As I mentioned in the story, the test drives were always the best part. Many of my best childhood memories consisted of high revs and tire smoke, or hill climbs so steep you couldn’t see the ground in front of the Jeep. All contained hang-on-tight moments with each and every one sandwiched between stern cautions of “Don’t tell mom and dad.”
The test drive depicted in “One More Try” was rather benign; benign that is up until the point where we feared we were going to freeze to death. At that point things got real very fast. If the Jeep hadn’t started and Keith’s plan panned out, we probably wouldn’t have frozen to death, but our respective ears, nose, fingers, and toes would have certainly been hurting. And if his plan didn’t work out? Well, we have speculated about that over the years and are glad we never had to find out.—Jon Kesler
