SYNOPSIS of: Journal of Frank Rudd Bybee, 1897 - 1900
The voice of this novel is that of Frank Rudd Bybee, as
written in his Journal, which he kept for years, from the plains of Paradise, Iowa to the Hex River Valley, near Worcester,
South Africa. The Journal of Frank Rudd Bybee, 1897 - 1900, is complete in its creation. Still needed are sketches, a cover, a comprehensive copy-edit, and e-book style formatting. This writer seeks an agent versed in traditional publishing, including movie, electronic and international rights for this title.
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The Journey West:
In 1897, responding to an urgent note from his brother,
Charlie-Elmer, Frank Rudd Bybee (hereafter FRB), runs away from the homestead
in Crawford County, Iowa. He runs away from a violently abusive
and alcoholic ironmonger of a father, who supports his habit by earning an ironmonger’s wage. Well,
an iron-monger when he is sober.
FRB will help Charley-Elmer in San Francisco, even if it means leaving his beloved farm, and
his goals of one day farming produce to Dennison,
Iowa. His big fear is leaving Ma,
to the vilification of Pa.
Before leaving Arion Depot, Frank and Clarissa find each
other in their first romantic encounter. Promising to return to Clarissa’s arms
and a family on the farm to be created, FRB ventures forth. At the last minute,
Hunter bounds up, to join Frank as the train is pulling out. He certainly needs
a dog along for the ride. The train journey, via Red Cloud, Nebraska and the
Upper Platte river has it’s excitement of ‘injun action’, in which FRB proves
his mettle as a sharpshooter, as he demonstrates to Malcolm, the train’s
flagman:
“Here, Malcolm, see that pigeon circling
the elm down there…?” as the box car
sways this way and that, I snap the Winchester to my shoulder, the way Oliver
always teach me, ‘fast, hard, sight, aim, pull’.
“…now, you don’t.” And
the feathers came, drifting, drifting.
Over the Donner Pass, and across the Great Basin to Sacramento, California, where Clarissa and Aunt Bea catch up with FRB, playing the part of the mythical Threshold
Gaurdians, noting that the Barbary Coast of San Francisco, is a hive of criminal
activity and kidnapping.
The Journey South:
FRB, through circumstances, attends a psuedo birthday party on board a ship, only to be shanghaied by
being drugged. Waking up in the brig, he is told that the Hornet_II is bound
for London, via Valpairiso,
Chile, and Cape
Horn.
Scores are leveled slightly when Bunko Kelly, FRB’s crimp,
appears in a clipper off the starboard bow, racing for Valparaiso. Kelly is, in turn, kidnapped, and
FRB is made one of the crew, as they prepare for the harshness of the Straights
of Magellan and Cape Horn.
Rescued from drifting onto the rocks by a pod of wales off
Punta Concepcion, off the entrance to the Straights of Magellan, this horrifying
event merely intensifies FRB’s desire to return to Iowa and start the farm (and
a family) as soon as possible. However…
The Journey East:
Shortly after breaking out the rum, as dictated by nautical
custom, when entering a new ocean, the South Atlantic, off the coast of Argentina, the
vessel is hit by a ‘rogue wave’, “…it was a giant swell”. In the process, FRB,
while battling Kelly, saves the life of Bart, the Hornet_II’s First Mate. After
calm returns, not only is Rippens, the ship’s cat, and FRB’s only on-board
friend, rescued from clinging to the stern sheets, but mutiny follows in which
the Captain is ‘persuaded’ to head for the nearest shore. Catching the
South-East trade winds off the island
of Tristan da Cunha, the nearest shore
is soon realized as Cape Town,
South Africa.
The Journey North:
Landing in Cape Town, FRB wastes
no time when he meets Mini-Clara Harriman, who, in turn, has recently arrived
from Somerset, Kent, in pursuit of her literary
hero, Rudyard Kipling. Kipling, friends with Cape Colony
premier Cecil-John Rhodes, convinces FRB to help Colonel Baden-Powell relieve
the Siege of Mafeking, a garrison town in the North-West of South Africa. In
the process, the ideas and foundation of the Boy’s Scout movement are
formulated by Baden-Powell and FRB.
Baden-Powell, the young Winston Churchill, Boer kommandos, Harriboi,
the ancient Khoi-khoi aborigine, Lady Sarah Wilson, aunt to Churchill, are all
involved to some degree or another, in the relief (or otherwise) of Mafeking.
While the Boer War was often portrayed lopsidedly, the atrocities FRB
experiences, including the death, in his arms, of Harriboi, after being whipped
horrendously by the Boers, leaves this young Iowa farm-boy totally shaken and
disillusioned. After helping relieve the Siege, FRB is only to pleased to return
to the waiting, open and most receptive arms of 'Miss Mini'. They establish a
small farm in the idyllic Hex
River Valley,
where grape and fruit production is the major industry. FRB works for the Cape
Orchard Company, a subsidiary of Cecil Rhodes’ Rhodes Fruit Farms. FRB’s
‘vision in the woods’ has now been fullfilled as the mountain on a cloud, and
the farms with grapes, have been realized, and the mythical Hero, has not quite
completed the Journey, he still needs the accolades of returning to his
Community. This does not happen for FRB.
Frank Rudd Bybee, dies in Worcester, in 1953. His Journal, unknown
until his death, is discovered by John Bybee, his grandson.
FRB died a sad, lonely, confused man. His last words being:
“… I am walking back… I must find Ma, Hunter, and Clari… walking back to the
farm in Iow….”
