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One
All of us along for the ride, the little blue dot turns. The first curve of the sun appears, peeking up in the east. Sunlight moves across the Atlantic Ocean, and morning comes to New York City. The air is too hot, too thin, and millions of people struggle just to breathe, to stay alive. The world teeters on the brink of our final war. Traffic fills the streets, and people make their way on the sidewalks.
Another mammal is on the sidewalk, a thriving rat dragging a piece of pizza. A woman screams while a nearby man marvels at the creature. “How much food is being thrown away to support thirty million of these mammals? Why are they throwing food away while so many Homo sapiens go hungry?” He snaps a picture of the rat and asks, “Is that pepperoni? I love pepperoni.” This chaotic meeting leads to an unlikely friendship between the man, the woman, and her son.
Grace is a physicist, brilliant, beautiful, tasked with calculating entry paths of titan missile warheads—and filled with worry for her autistic son. Androgynous, eccentric Bob doesn’t care what Grace looks like. He makes Grace feel like he’s not looking at her, but into her. He asks unusual questions that make her take a deeper look at her life, “Does your job make you feel hopeful?”
Jack, eleven, is uncoordinated, autistic, genius, and afraid he’ll never have friends. Bob sees Jack’s quirks as gifts and recognizes in him the potential to do anything, the future we could have if more people were like him. He takes the time to listen to Jack’s endless questions and answers them patiently.
But soon others start asking their own questions about Bob, and there’s a very real chance the world isn’t ready to learn the answers. Can these three unlikely friends convince the world to accept the truth and save us all? Or will they push us over the brink?
Another mammal is on the sidewalk, a thriving rat dragging a piece of pizza. A woman screams while a nearby man marvels at the creature. “How much food is being thrown away to support thirty million of these mammals? Why are they throwing food away while so many Homo sapiens go hungry?” He snaps a picture of the rat and asks, “Is that pepperoni? I love pepperoni.” This chaotic meeting leads to an unlikely friendship between the man, the woman, and her son.
Grace is a physicist, brilliant, beautiful, tasked with calculating entry paths of titan missile warheads—and filled with worry for her autistic son. Androgynous, eccentric Bob doesn’t care what Grace looks like. He makes Grace feel like he’s not looking at her, but into her. He asks unusual questions that make her take a deeper look at her life, “Does your job make you feel hopeful?”
Jack, eleven, is uncoordinated, autistic, genius, and afraid he’ll never have friends. Bob sees Jack’s quirks as gifts and recognizes in him the potential to do anything, the future we could have if more people were like him. He takes the time to listen to Jack’s endless questions and answers them patiently.
But soon others start asking their own questions about Bob, and there’s a very real chance the world isn’t ready to learn the answers. Can these three unlikely friends convince the world to accept the truth and save us all? Or will they push us over the brink?
260 pages, Paperback
Published June 30, 2023
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
John Queen
1 book1 followerJohn C. Queen is a Kansas-based author. He lives with his beautiful wife in the beautiful Flint Hills.
His debut novel, ONE, is available now.
His debut novel, ONE, is available now.
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