The Counterfeit Madonna

My lifelong passion has been for great literature great music great art includingsculpture and architecture and great philosophy.I had some talented English teachers in high school and at the junior college in St.Joseph MO.; also at Kansas University in Lawrence KS. with extra credits fromthe University of Missouri- Columbia and University of Missouri- Kansas City.This led to my embarking on a teaching vocation myself. I taught on severallevels and I should have been able to use the experience to my benefit. Instead Ihad a breakdown that took me a while to recover from. While I was flounderingmy way out of this dilemma I was hired by the City of Kansas City MO. for aclerical position and was assigned to their Municipal Farm (a still flourishingprison farm) which eventually evolved into the Municipal Correctional Institution.I intended and expected that this would be a temporary expedient for me. Iended up staying for thirty years mostly as a records officer at the prison.I’ve never written about those years but that may yet occur provided timeallows. During those thirty years I was able to partake of the City’s rich culturallife and I read read read and also continued to write all through that period.Here is a novelette from an earlier period of my life before most of these latterthings happened. Eventually I broadened my horizon to include an interestin German literature. Currently I’m working at translating some works fromGerman literature and currently I’m developing and honing my translation skillshoping to make a contribution to the literary challenge of being a translator.