As Promised

As promised -- to myself, my family and friends, and to you, dear readers -- this book is a done deal and available to all.

If you like to read paperbacks, the print version can be found at Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.

Or perhaps you've become a fan of e-reading? Smashwords has what you're looking for. After you click this link, scroll down to make your choice of format.

There's another option at Outskirts Press where you can order an eBook in PDF to read on your computer.

Take your pick, and, speaking of choices, here's an excerpt on that very topic:

Choices

Three weeks away and then back to reality, harsh reality. My friend Norma told me when she returned to Tehran after R&R she spent the first five days in the house with the drapes pulled shut, pretending she was not there. I thought she might be a little crazy until I had the same experience returning from our trip to Cyprus. Urban terrorism seemed to have escalated to a level beyond frightening. A U.S. Army colonel had been assassinated mere blocks from our home, revolutionaries and supporters of the Shah battled on the streets, and an embassy vehicle had been carjacked and one passenger killed. I felt mentally and emotionally unequipped to deal with the increased violence, but we had six months left in Tehran. I needed a better coping mechanism than closed drapes.

Fortunately, the arrival of the open assignments list came as a welcome distraction soon after we returned from Cyprus. Fred and I set upon the task of formulating a bid list. With several pages of openings in front of us, we looked at each other and shrugged. Where to begin? Eventually we developed a technique and continued to refine it over the years. We identified posts that had a school with an American curriculum and instruction in English. We placed a high priority on furnished quarters, since we had no furniture other than odds and ends in storage. The less-traveled places attracted both of us, so smaller posts got our attention. We liked the idea of hardship posts (offering a 10-15% pay benefit), as long as the hardship didn't include war.

I made a chart and we rated our choices. Fred submitted a bid list of ten to fifteen posts and then we faced a long, hard wait until the assignment telegram arrived several months later. Our first list included London, Vienna, Santo Domingo, Nairobi, Yaounde, Dakar, Manila, Brussels, Warsaw, and Accra. No one could tell us whether we could expect to be assigned to our first choice or any of the choices on our list. Assignments were made "for the good of the service." We didn't know what that meant either. ###