Ghosts That I Have Known

Book excerpt: Dave Ferman is a former high school English and science teacher, and a communications executive in the world's largest defense corporation. In 1956, he completed a tour as a U.S. Marine Grunt, a drill instructor, a military policeman, and a pilot. He also served in Sixth Fleet Air Intelligence with a clandestine atom bomber squadron in the Mediterranean Theatre, and on the West Bank and volatile "Green Line" between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan. Along the way, he earned a succession of hard-to-get, easy-to-lose top U.S. security clearances that make him among the most highly vetted rookie authors in literature today. Uncle Sam trusts Dave Ferman. While growing up in urban Kansas during the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II and the birth of Rock 'n Roll, Dave had several unrelated but pleasant paranormal experiences. Curious and wishing for encores at age five, in denial at age10, then comfortably nonjudgmental until age 44 when his deceased father visited Dave one evening during a period of extreme f nancial stress to assure him: "Don't worry, son. Everything is going to be alright," and very soon it was. After that, Dave became a converted believer in some form of life after death. What other choice did he have? Dave's message is twofold: "Don't despair, if all goes well, you and your departed loved ones will be reunited in the hereafter," and "I am no longer afraid to die; and you should not be, either."