The Last Act

A desperate man thinks he'd formulated the secret to a life well-lived. Unfortunately, he is losing the game. When we first meet Leo, a vacuum salesman in his sixtieth year, he faces the overwhelming burden of caregiving for his elderly, demented mother. And he only sees a bleak future in his marriage and career. Suicide becomes the only option for Leo, deep in the throes of despair. In a carefully devised plan he shares with his "Gomer" neighbor Mosby, Leo would end it all before his life gets worse. He seeks to leave earth with enough good years behind him to be called a winner, using a gambler's logic. The suicide plot fails, and, in the immediate aftermath, Leo begins to discover that life is not a formula and, despite trials, has enormous promise. Following a single spontaneous act of heroism, he finds reasons to live, some questionable. But he remains metaphorically lost in the woods. A short period of renewal is followed by his wife's unfaithfulness, a looming divorce, and ailments that continue to plague him, along with two suspicious deaths. He is also plagued by Mosby, the "gum on his remaining shoe," after neglecting his health costs him a leg. Mosby figures into much of Leo's life and travails over twenty years. Both men somehow manage to keep their friendship solid to the point of saving Leo from a rap for manslaughter and taking the rap for another death to spare Leo pain. Theirs is a strange and sometimes comical relationship with surprises at every turn. The two men eventually end up at the same senior home. The finale chronicles their antics and new relationships. No resident of the home is untouched by the duo's exuberance. The story is dark humor with an ample sprinkling of truths, twists, and lessons readers can relate to and enjoy. It is also a love story of two people who, in classic "buddy" fashion, achieve the serendipity from that relationship, however mismatched. At the surprising end of the story, Leo discovers what he had all along and never realized: love in many forms all around. Ultimately, he is saved. His life, he realizes, has been one well-lived.