Thomas Young

Thomas Young wakens to darkness. He is a depressed Associate Professor in the English department of a mid-level state university. His work has become drudgery: he is behind in his work and can’t seem to catch up. His depression gets worse when Tom’s wife Chrissie suddenly dies in her sleep. By an odd coincidence, on that same day Tom is asked to become Assistant Chair of his department.. This story takes with with Tom through the next months. He is helped by Chrissie’s best friend, Annie Pohland, who helps him maneuver a path through her burial and the following memorial service. Other friends, most of whom Tom had not met before, give him valuable help. The story is episodic. Interlocking episodes present parts of Tom’s past and present. He learns about university politics, spars with an unpleasant colleague,he guides candidates through the tenure process, and forms a good relationship with his department chair, Walt Turner. And in all this, he finds himself in a growing closer to Annie. He has a bitter relationship with Arlen Barfield, a colleague who detests Tom and with whom his conversations are sparring matches with elegant insults and posturing. A few episodes aren’t about Tom: Particularly a relationship that develops between the two tenure candidates. Tom discovers a regional campus he wasn’t even aware of before. There he meets faculty with the same oddball characteristics, and even similar names and personal histories. One man he meets there even shares much of Tom’s problems. Ultimately Tom is asked to become Academic Dean of that growing campus, and moves there with Annie. And Thomas Young wakens to brilliant sunlight.