The Karma Charmer Author:Bruce Palmer A quarter of a centry after the counter-culture's moment of glory at the Woodstock Festival of Music and Art, Dick Howser's dreams of a Woodstock Nation may be dusty, but they've never truly died. He still thinks peace, love, and happiness are attainable -- it's just going to take longer than he originally thought. Fo... more »rty-something isn't as cool as twenty-something, but it has its moments.
When the senior dorm at the local college near Woodstock burns to the ground, Howser is among the townsfolk pressured into boarding a homeless student. Beautiful twenty-one-year-old Leslie Zack winds up being more then Howser bargained for, and soon he is head-over-heels in lust and then, much to his surprise, genuine love. Leslie's plans for her future include a high-powered job on Wall Street and a carefree, expensive life-style in New York City, and not spending her life with an aging, slightly overweight former hippie who sells "recycled goods." Truly smitten, Howser devises a bizarre and elaborate strategy to convince her to stay.
We all know what happens to the best-laid plans, so when Howser's ten-year-old love child, who he hasn't seen in eight years, shows up with the remains of his mother in a peanut brittle can, suddenly Howser's calm simple Aquarian life-style begins to resemble a 90's nightmare. Bummer.
Still, he finds hope for salvation in surprising sources, including an old lover named Dove, an oriental sex manual, a former psychic turned tycoon, and two well-preserved acid-laced sugar cubes from his more indulgent days. Peace.« less