INSOMNIA

Book synopsis: It was so many years ago when I first met her, but almost like yesterday. Charlene, the love of my life, dominated my thoughts deep into the night and early morning hours. After seven years, I still grieved like a lost puppy missing its mom. Insomnia can be dreadful, and incurable in some cases, I suppose. Married sixty-three years, Charlene left me looking as beautiful as the day she stepped into my life on her way home from high school to say hello to Onalee, her next-door girlfriend. Wearing my Army uniform on my first military pass, I knew I had to see more of this beautiful girl, but Charlene made it clear that wouldn't happen. "I'm going steady," she said. "He's in the service. He's away now." With that bombshell, Charlene walked out the door. Onalee, the boyfriend's younger sister, turned to me and shrugged with a small smile. "Guess she's unavailable, Jack." Unavailable? I didn't need a dictionary to define the word. But unavailable? She's right next door... and probably long overdue for a fun weekend. My sleepy girlfriend, stirred, planted her feet on the floor, yawned, ran her hand through her hair and rose. "Be right back, honey," she mumbled and headed for the bathroom. I checked the clock, grimaced, then resumed my trek down memory lane. Autobiography: Born in 1930 in Kearney, Nebraska, Jack Hawn later spent four years assigned to the army's public information offices. In civilian life, he then found work as a copyboy at a Hollywood newspaper, was paid $5 to review plays and nightclub acts, and a year later filled a sports desk vacancy. Working for the LA Times, Jack Hawn's journalism career covered sports and entertainment. He earned extra income as a television dramatist and wrote TV and radio scripts for sportscasters.During his 43-year career, he covered Muhammad Ali title fights, boxing at the 1984 Olympics, and wrote about Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and other celebrities until his retirement from the LA Times in 1991.