I was asked to post a little bit about what my new book is about. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, "The Shopping Cart Man" is about a family that ends up helping a homeless man during the Christmas holiday. How that ends up happening is they are on a cross-country drive to spend Christmas with their grandmother when they pass an RV with a sticker about the "Good Sam Club" on it.

When the 10-year-old daughter, Emma, asks what that club is, her parents remind the kids about the parable of the Good Samaritan. Emma is intrigued and asks if there are still Good Samaritans around. In response to her older brother scoffing at her that "that was just in Bible times," their father points out that "anyone" can be a Good Samaritan.

Dad quickly learns you have to be careful what you say to your kids, because Emma takes that to heart. When they stop for lunch and are approached by a homeless man asking for money, Emma wants to "treat him like the Good Samaritan would," but Dad feels he'll only "buy beer" with the money as he gives him a little.

While the family is eating, the man comes in with a homeless lady. They buy a kid's meal. The man gingerly tears the tiny burger in two and shares it with the lady. At the sight of this, Emma is ecstatic for having helped, while the dad feels like a heel for having given so little.

After lunch, the dad refuels the car and sees the man again. He decides to make amends. One thing leads to another and the family ends up giving the man a ride with them all the way to Oklahoma as the story kicks into full gear.

Along the drive, the family gets to know the man and confront some of their prejudices. Meanwhile, the man starts to have troubling flashbacks hinting at his past - which he has totally forgotten. When they arrive in Oklahoma and drop off the man, he goes on a quest to discover his past and what it was that happened to him to put him in his current state, in the hopes of salvaging his future. ("When the trip ends, his journey is just beginning...")

I've been asked where the idea came from. Basically, a couple of years back, I had an experience similar to the one in the restaurant with the kid's meal. I find no pride in admitting that I was the dad who felt like a heel.

In looking back on the situation, I wondered what it would be like if someone really needed and wanted help, and if someone actually gave that help. That gave birth to this story. It's kind of the "best case" scenario.

I'd always wanted to write some sort of Christmas story, and this one worked into that very nicely. I also liked adding a touch of mystery to it with the man's amnesiac situation and a couple of other touches.

At any rate, that's what it's all about...

Read the original "Lines of our Times" post here.