After false starts in third grade and my sophomore year in college, I picked up my pen upon retirement, began to write again, and met the characters in my first collection of short fiction. Like my protagonists, I have traveled widely in the course of career stints as language teacher, social worker, software marketer, and translator. After living and working in Germany and Switzerland for sixteen years, my wife and I returned to the Chicago area in 2006. Our two married daughters and five grandchildren continue to be a constant source of joy. Choral singing and European languages remain my ot...