The Golden Years: The First Half — M.J. Davis

(11)3NOW=113SE? 144.1Y?K =41OTER.N W0N1.161=4711OSEE Mama says hi. Rednecks and Republicans grow like weeds on the high desert, just south of Spokane. Mama is trapped in an abusive marriage to the town golden child, Richard Edgerton Junior. He is also captain of the state champion football team of 1967. Being plum black and 350 pounds doesn't help her case. She is a bruise on the face of the small town. Old women of United Congregational, the family church, are curious as to what happened in Saigon that would drive Richard Edgerton Jr. to make such a mistake. Do you have a cousin named Bubba? Do you like the Da Vinci Code? Hate Hannibal Lector? Welcome Home. Told by James, Mama's only son, The GFlden Years relays their tale with the use of Mama's postcards. With undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome, Mama's illiteracy and race mask her innate ability. Taken out of school early in life, her gift with numbers is only shared with James in a coded language of love. The code binds them together in deep affection. Together they survive the domestic abuse and mental illness kept under wraps by the Edgerton family. Together they loosely explore irrational numbers and the implied magic they hold.