Touching Cottonwood Connects With the Mysteries of Life

After being jailed for murder in WashingtonState, Matthew Duncan escapes and returns to his hometown of Cottonwood, Colorado. There he reconnects with his high school sweetheart Rebecca. They marry in a secret midnight ceremony conducted by the local judge.

Before you start thinking of Bonnie and Clyde, you want to read Aurora author Randal Gates Simpson's prologue to Touching Cottonwood. In it, he sets out the book's premise when he writes that miracles "...were accepted as a matter of fact" for "tens of thousands of years of human history" and "...the nature of miracles as revealed to each heart is dependent upon the individual." With this opening, the stage is set for the reader to accept the wonder and excitement that is Matthew and Rebecca's life.

Matthew's reality is that he was a forest ranger near Mt.Rainier in the Pacific Northwest, sensitive to the flora, fauna and history of the area. A spiritual experience in the form of a fall on a mountain opens his consciousness and imbues him with calm yet profound understanding and abilities. Employing these traits, Matthew attempts to communicate with a hardened criminal who is critically injured and lying in a hospital bed. The criminal dies and Matthew is tried and convicted of the murder even though he never touched the patient. He is imprisoned but escapes by just walking out. He sheds his orange jumpsuit purposefully, knowing it will help lead law enforcement to him. Matt makes his way back to Cottonwood and the love of his life, Rebecca, whose name in Hebrew means "to tie." With his arrival, the mythical town becomes "the dead zone" where motorized vehicles stall and the flow of life - and attitudes - changes. Matt is pursued by a fast-food eating Federal Agent Westmore but evades him to be apprehended by the local Sheriff O'Neil and his bumbling deputy, Sparky.

Cottonwood is populated by believable characters who scratch their heads over miraculous incidents that take pace on a regular daily basis. The owner of Ernie's diner even puts a video camera in the walk-in refrigerator, an effort to record the process by which the milk jug is constantly refilled and the bread supply never ends. A well known scientist employs sensitive electronic instruments and digs up a portion of the town's main intersection looking for the elusive cause of the dead zone. Old Blind Carl ....well, let's don't reveal the nature of that mystery here. And despite separation and startling revelations, Rebecca's belief in Matthew never fails even when he falls over a cliff and disappears before she has a chance to tell him that she is pregnant. Overarching all this, the tweet, tweeta, tweet of the Sturnella neglecta is heard.

Matthew (the name means gift of God) doesn't just believe in miracles, he lives his life as the truly mystifying and peculiar journey that it is. How does he explain the series of seemingly inexplicable and curious events? He says "...words can often fall short of describing things. Reality is often so much bigger than our vocabulary."

So how does this intricately woven tale of one man's spiritual journey turn out? Read Touching Cottonwood and see for yourself. And if you have questions , meet Randy Simpson at Clear Creek Books in downtown Golden on Saturday, November 7 th at 11 a.m. and ask him. You might find that the author is just as mysterious and exciting as his main character in this, his first novel.