Imagine striving a lifetime for a happiness that only comes with peace of mind. Imagine further, after twenty-five long years, finally reaching that ultimate prize, when the sun can shine no brighter on life. It appears perfect, almost surreal. Then imagine, in the same flash, without blinking, an ultimate hurt that sinks that euphoria before it can ever be celebrated.
How does one rise from such a magnificent devastation, being stripped of the most glorious emotion for one of great despair? This is Foster McMillan’s battle, his fate.
Instead of experiencing life through peaks and valleys, Foster’s world is literally snatched from under him in minutes. And he is asked to simply, get up, and begin all over again from this pit that leaves him without a glimmer of optimism, hope or faith – an eternity away from the joy he’d tasted for just that one moment.
This riveting, soulless story takes us to humble, rural South Carolina where a 25-year-old only child, Foster embarks upon what is the most satisfying period in his life thus far, when he completes his M.B.A., proposes to his dream girl who accepts, prepares for a fruitful career in the family business, and most importantly, returns home to be closer to his mother and father – all occurring within less than seventy two hours.
Foster is understandably supplanted by this utopia. But as quickly as it develops, his life unravels.
After learning that his parents were killed tragically in a fatal car wreck that may or may not have been an accident, everything that he’d come to depend on seems to vanquish as well. Foster not only loses his parents, but in the two days that follow, he loses his entire life with it; trickling betrayals blister him emotionally, never allowing him to mourn his loss.
Even worse, the unyielding, catastrophic punishment sends Foster to a place psychologically that appears to leave only a chance for a more disastrous ending. Once a mild-mannered, always forgiving and good-natured person, he becomes vengeful and menacing, spinning out of control in a week that is complete with surprising twists and drastic turns, intense confrontation and brutal intervention, with unpredictable revelations and chilling reactions.
Treading on the other half of what is perceived as moral, Foster becomes embattled in a war where it is difficult for him to determine the enemy. In the end, Foster learns his greatest adversary may be himself and the cruel realities of life. The question looms: Does Foster ever come to find himself back at the mountain peak, or will he be lost in the valley forever?
Son Down is the unprecedented, daring journey of a lost soul, one man’s battle between good and evil, illusion and reality and truth and lie.
Meet Carver, Terry, JJ, Michelle and Chrissie - five young and bright college students born and raised in the south.
Each has his and her own personal philosophy as to how the world turns.
The only constant for this group of African-Americans is the predictable structure of the classroom, until they meet Josie Jenkins, a young intelligent professor who transforms the normal route to earning a grade.
Josie does the unthinkable, not offering a syllabus for her course "African-Americans in today's society".
Instead, she offers an insightful comparison, lecturing about life's own classroom, which also offers no guidelines, rules or directions.
Unsure and uninspired by their professor's effort, the group leaves the course with nothing, carrying on in their usual manner, which can get a little sticky at times.
While they don't know it, the students proceed to experience Josie's missing syllabus, as they encounter one shocking, unexpected episode after another, facing life's many exams unprepared.
It's only years later - after a treacherous prison sentence, a wrecking divorce, a painful bullet wound, a scorn heart and an unexpected pregnancy - do these mind-set characters unfold, break down and come to honor Josie's words.
While Josie's Missing Syllabus is a ride filled with sharp, unexpected turns, it never strays from reality, offering the grit that lives in the souls of these five personalities.
