The Fourth Step, a Dream Sequence

Paul dreams of having children, not the only infantile notion he nourishes. He races to a romance with a Jewish maiden whose father owns the Bucs, a woeful NFL football team. Finding her finally alone in a state that can only be described as imaginary he his two children by her who make an impact on the world unlike himself. Awakening, he realizes no matter how petty his machinations, they were not as petty as the beheadings, the strangulations, the burnings, the suicide bombings which cast their darkness on the everyday world.

Like as has been said Mr. Lucas hails from the same site in which this and all his novellas take place in, Tampa, i.e. ‘Little Havana,’ as it likes to be called. Fabled institutions like Medicare, the VA, Social Security, food stamps, monthly checks in general, are part of his diet, a condition he shares with his protagonist, Paul Undres, who in turn, shares with you. In fact sharing is a big thing with Mr. Lucas. We’re all in it together, a cliché which is meaningless, but hopeful.