Wide Place in the Road

Wide Place In The Road Protagonist Jessie Rascoe A Resourceful Boy Scout Lives In A Small Rural Community In California'S Tehachappi Mountains. The Discovery Of Girls At Their One Room School Brings A Change In Priorities For Jessie And His Friends. Beautiful Hallie Lamont The Ranch Owners Daughter Plays With Jessie'S Emotions But Maria The Dark Eyed Mountain Girl Captures His Heart. Later At College Peggy An Older Girl Teaches Him The Ways Of Love. Pearl Harbor Changes Everything: Hallie Becomes A Wasp (Women'S Army Service Pilot) Maria Works In An Aircraft Factory Jessie'S Best Friend Alvin Is Killed At Pearl Harbor And Jessie Quits College And Becomes An Army Fighter Pilot. After A Disasterous First Mission In The South Pacific  Jessie Excels In Aerial Combat And Is Awarded The Medal Of Honor By President Roosevelt.   ?On Leave To Accept His Medal He Is Reunited With Both Hallie And Maria. Emotions Sizzle But Jessie Must Return To Combat Where He Is Shot Down And Reported Killed In Action. Tenacious And Determined Jessie Survives Malaria And Cannibals In The New Guinea Jungle And Eventually Escapes To An Isolated Catholic Mission. But His Sanctuary Is Tenuous Since The Mission Is Under Japanese Surveillance. Realizing Escape Is Impossible He Settles Into Missionary Life Which Becomes Complicated When Stephanie A Young Missionary Falls In Love. She Is Subsequently Taken Hostage By The Japanese And For The Following Two Years Jessie Remains At The Mission And Paints A Panorama Of Native Life Using Raw Jungle Materials. When The War Is Finally Over He Finds That Sweet Stephnie Was Executed. As He Gazes Out The Airplane Window On His Long Flight Home Jessie Wonders What Awaits Him...Who Awaits Him?... Maria...Hallie...Anyone?