The stain started out as picture I drew and later became a poem that I wrote last year as one of my poems that I added to my prior work “ESS The final stories” I added the Stain again to this book because it was my inspiration to the story that follows. The cover art is the original drawing that started it all. If you look closely at the picture you will be able to see there is an image of a woman. The woman is looking away as she remembers a couple embraced in love making. An innocent young woman, almost nun like that was stained by another who leaves her blowing in the wind. I continued to develop the story line not from the original drawing but from the poem that followed. The storyline developed deeper from stories I had heard from my father about an ancient people that lived in trees thousands of years ago.The story is narrated by two colorful characters that are in different parts of the world. Gus is not very educated and is forced to understand something outside his little world that will eventually change him and make him grow. James also changes his life and has to understand a different world all together. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.