Five Cards and a Cathouse

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </strong></p><p> <em style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Five Cards and a Cathouse</em><strong style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> </strong><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>is</span><strong style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> </strong><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>a humorous light-hearted coming-of-age tale of a young boy's life marinated in several of Central Oregon's tiny cowtowns before and after World War II's Pearl Harbor attack-history brought alive at the home front level. There are also occasional family forays to the thriving metropolis of Portland (Oregon) and the World's Fair in San Francisco California.</span></p><p> <span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Narrated by teenager Hamilton Skutt whose life is complicated by a Latino man tells his story with a voice that is at times willful and filled with salty language fed by raging thoughts. The Mexican shows up at odd times to leave a playing card meaning what?-warning?-threat?</span></p><p> <span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Skutt tells of romantic experiences family dynamics details of life in the thirties and forties wartime upheavals and recollections of the movies songs comics and radio shows of that era.</span></p><p> <span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>The book's title stems from an Old West custom of legal cathouses (brothels) in western cities to save local ladies from cowboys in town looking for a good time.</span></p><p> <span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>This is a fascinating page-turner!</span></p><p> <span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> </span></p>