The Fifth Day

Mike Palmer wouldn’t win any Gerber Baby contests.

Born in Portland, Oregon, with a lazy eye, severe case of pigeon-toes, and asthma, Mike spent the first six months of his life in an oxygen tent, which affected his hearing. Mike was what his rough-handed father would refer to as a “cull.” His older brother Chuck acted as both a guide and protector throughout early childhood. But Chuck was the primary target of their parental rage and was barely able to navigate life himself.

A chance relocation lands the Palmer family in Roseburg, a small Southern Oregon logging community, in the midst of the Vietnam War and just ahead of a thousand-year flood in 1964. Property values plummet along the North Umpqua River, creating a rare opportunity to purchase one of hundreds of homes recently flooded. The move exposes a Huck Finn world of fishing, swimming, and exploring for the Palmer brothers. Mike chooses to see the humor and beauty in the world around him.

Three encouraging teachers and a loving grandmother end up shaping Mike’s life from grade school to graduation. Their lessons are invaluable as he moves through day-to-day life, problems, and choices. The love of a neighbor’s cat helps him through a tumultuous couple of decades and an abuse-filled adolescence. He learns early to dance like an organ grinder’s monkey to stay under the radar and out of reach of his father’s heavy hands. A quick wit and the ability to become invisible help too.

Can he break the ties of long-term German generational abuse? The choice seems simple enough, but the rage bred into him feels stronger than what he thinks he can overcome. Fate will tell, even though he doesn’t believe in that “flip of a coin” notion, as he searches for a truth much bigger than self.