The Secret Place

….So, at about the age of twelve, when most boys do what they are told NOT to do, B. J. went into the woods. From that day on his life was never the same. This is more than just another book. This is our son’s secret journal that we found years after, …well, years after he disappeared. These are his words. This is his story. The following was written on the first page of his journal, “As I start my story, I cannot tell you my name, or where I live, or anything that might disclose who I am. I can, however, tell you one thing; when I was a baby my grandpa called me B.J.”.

When our son was growing up none of the children were allowed to go into the woods behind our house. Two boys disappeared in the woods over ten years ago and were never found, not a trace. I think this is why B.J. had to go into the woods. He had to see for myself what was there. What he found was another world. It was a world that he writes about in his journal. He writes about an old lady called “Mowmow.” He writes about his best friends LaCharles and Lizzy. He writes about a pond that is deep in the woods, and what he discovered on the other side of the pond. He writes about love, fear, death, and God.

I left the pages of this book basically untouched; (so, you will find some misspelled words and incorrect grammar). However, I didn’t want to change one word of what B.J. wrote. Every word is a clue as to what happened to him, or where he might be. When you finish reading his journal entries, maybe you will understand? Maybe you can help us find B.J.?

The sketches in this book have been redrawn. However, the original sketches made by B.J. are in the “cold case file” in the basement of the Charlotte, North Carolina courthouse.

His students have always called him “Mr. Chip.” He teaches in the inner-city of Memphis and has now reached the age of sixty-seven. He calls his life experience, one of “putting a round fat white man in a square black box.” Some people have questioned his wisdom of teaching in the projects. It looks like it would never work. He is so old and so white. His students are so young and almost all black. But it does work! Age is a real advantage because wisdom is more important than knowledge. He believes that Education has to be a combination of learning between the young and the old.

Mr. Chip has a Masters Degree in Education and could teach wherever he wants to teach, at twice the salary. However, He loves the children of the inner-city. He loves their fight to survive. He loves their honesty (and at times their dishonesty). He believes that a good teacher loves their students as if they were their own children. Yet, you must allow your students to be free. Mr. Chip knows that his students don’t belong to him, they belong to the streets. He tries to open new doors and show them other worlds. He challenges his students to leave the project and “fly”; to escape and run. He also challenges them to return one day and help another student, and another, and another.

Mr. Chip is a master story teller. His book, “The Secret Place,” is an example of his vivid imagination, and his ability to cloud the difference between truth and fiction.