Two Inch Heels - An autobiographical novel

Chapter 30 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. The “lagoon city” lives up to its reputation as an unusual place. I have a brief acquaintance with an older guy, and also witness a unique moment between Jen and Sarah. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 31 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Frayed and homesick after eight weeks of travel, mostly on my own, I take a long train ride from Venice through a long tunnel under the southern Alps headed to the anticipated winter wonderland of Grindelwald. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 32 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I finally make it to my little paradise in the mountains and engage with the hostel's cast of fellow travelers, some new and some, surprisingly, that I have met before. It’s paradise doubly so, because they actually have hot showers! Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 33 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Most of us hostel residents go down the hill to the local tavern for their daily happy hour, which gives me the opportunity for an initial close encounter with Ragna, and an opportunity for me to partner with Derrick of all people. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 34 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I finally have my encounter with the awesome mountains, plus a second encounter with Ragna, and one even with the Goddess herself. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 35 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. While the young women in our circle pay the fare to take the Cog Railway up to the Sphinx Observatory near the summit of the Jungfrau, the guys and I play in the snow with the local kids and I have a close encounter with Michael. Contains some adult language.

Chapter 36 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Monika, Ragna and Beth return from the Sphinx Observatory with tales of their journey, and with an apparent new connection between Monika and Beth, and I regret not going along. And then Monika and Ragna finally bid us goodbye. Contains adult language and some sexual discussion.

Chapter 37 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I sadly part with most of my backpacker comrades in wonderful little Grindelwald and take the train down to Interlaken to begin my journey back to London and then back to the States. But lucky for me, I am joined by one of those comrades and we share some secrets and have a quiet moment of intimacy together before going our separate ways, she chasing love and me beginning my road home. Contains adult language and some sexual discussion.

Chapter 38 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Having left Grindelwald behind, I finally face the realization that I am heading home, with all the positive and negative feelings that engenders, including comparing where I was back at the beginning of my odyssey to where I am now. Contains adult language and some sexual discussion.

Chapter 39 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I return to Munich to stay with my young adult family friends Angelica & Helmut, and wrestle with my attraction to Angelica and the boundaries between friends and lovers. Contains adult language and a good deal of sexual discussion.

Chapter 40 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Tired, sad and homesick, on an overnight train from Munich to Amsterdam on a frigid night, I encounter a man who looks into my soul, sees my loneliness, and then reaches out to give me a little taste of home at his home with his girlfriend and her two kids in the little Dutch village of Best. Contains adult language.

Chapter 41 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I arrive in this cold, rainy, but beautiful and friendly city and find sanctuary at the Christian Youth Hostel, which is a haven for hash and hippies and gives me some needed solace from my loneliness. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 42 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. On a cold and rainy morning in Amsterdam, I accompany my three new comrades to the morning tour of the Heineken brewery, a must see for my ilk, if for no reason other than lots of free beer at the end of the tour. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 43 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Deliciously buzzed from the free beer at the Heineken Brewery, I wander through the streets of Amsterdam on my own taking care of business, and happen to encounter the Anne Frank house museum. I take the tour and am drawn into the life of Anne and her dad Otto, the character I played when my theater group did “The Diary of Anne Frank” the previous spring. Contains adult language.

Chapter 44 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I awake the next morning at the youth hostel to a brazen offer to smoke hash even before I’m out of bed, which accepted, sends me on a day’s adventure thru Amsterdam with my three backpacker comrades, beginning with a second tour of the Heineken brewery. Contains adult language, drug use and sexual discussion.

Chapter 45 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Buzzing on Butch's "killer" giggly hash, I have a close encounter with Gwendolyn at the Van Gogh Museum and a more discomforting encounter with the BOAC ticketing agent. Contains adult language, drug use and sexual references.

Chapter 46 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I make my sad departure from my comrades, the Christian Youth Hostel, and Lady Amsterdam herself, and on my own again board the big ship to take me to England, and leave the Continent, and all its memorable people and places behind. Contains adult language, drug use and sexual discussion.

Chapter 47 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. On the big ferry across the stormy North Sea returning to England, I have a close encounter with what seems like a bonafide hippie, a rock musician from Los Angeles, who draws me and then a young woman into his orbit and we make the most of his bottle of Dutch gin. Contains adult language, drug and sexual discussion.

Chapter 48 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I stay for a couple nights with the couple my mom traded houses with three years back when we spent the summer in England in 1970, whom I had never before met. Troubled by the dynamics of that family and particularly the husband’s approach to marriage and parenthood, I continue to find solidarity with the women I meet, as they continue to show themselves as more mature and fighting the good fight to survive and thrive. Contains adult language, drug and sexual discussion.

Chapter 49 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. After a brief stop at the American Express office in London, I board a bus to Oxford and find myself amongst three drunken young women, returning from an office holiday party, who turn me into the entertainment for an otherwise boring ride home. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 50 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I return to the Clays in Horspath, who hosted Angie and I at the beginning of our (now my) journey, where I will now spend the final days of my odyssey in their friendly hospitality and good energy. Contains adult language and sexual discussion.

Chapter 51 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. Still staying with the Clay’s, their daughter Kate invites me to join her and her two best friends seeing the new movie “Godspell”, and I get a glimpse of the world and worldview of three young women, though just two years my junior, with a very different take on our path forward. Contains adult language.

Chapter 52 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. I spend my final couple days in Europe amidst the warm hospitality of the Clay family in Oxford.  Finally on the plane flight back to Detroit in the States, I have one last chance to overthink everything, and I ponder who I might be becoming.  I have an epiphany on an old persona, “Clubius”, that I am now finally ready and able to give up.  And like the committed actor, I consider a new one, “The Coopster”, identified by big Aussie Jen in Rome several weeks back, that I will now try to inhabit as best I can for myself, for my family, and for the rest of my community back home in the States. Contains adult language.

Chapter 53 of my autobiographical novel of backpacking thru Western Europe in 1973 at age 18. In my final chapter, I complete that last day of my odyssey, returning home with my mom and brother, but already facing at least one change and the challenge to address it.