Al asked me that night, “Do I look drunk?” We laughed. I met him and his daughter at a bar in Boyle Heights. Al is in his late 50′s. An old school Chicano. I had a very short coversation with him.

By the way, he was drunk and very proud to introduce his daughter and himself. He told me he’s a writer and I wrote down his website. I asked him if I can share this on my site.

“If you want to, yes. If not no,” we laughed.

After reading the first chapter, I decided, yes.

Here is an exerpt and the link to Al Lucero, enjoy:  

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CHAPTER ONE – BIG SUR

Somewhere I have a real mom and a real dad.

I used to know who they were, but I was wrong.

For four years life had been a series of teaching jobs, cheap apartments, and dimly lit bars in a string of northern California cities.  I was alone since my divorce, living paycheck to paycheck.  A brain tumor had just been diagnosed. For several years my head had been playing host to a star-shaped mass spanning eight to ten centimeters, a bit over three inches.  I figured somehow this had to be payment for a karmic debt it must have taken lifetimes to acquire. Apparently I had not lived very harmoniously.  Trying to find the cloud’s silver lining, I concluded this must be my final installment.

—–Read the whole memoir at his site: http://allucero.com/chapter-1/