“That Which Cannot be Denied is a true story of a young boy, Roger Hughes, and his journey to manhood in midst of a background of influences: a grandfather known as “the meanest man in Bakersfield;” and a father, “a top gun” flyer with the discipline of Marine core training; and “a mother with flexible boundaries when it came to raising two boys often in the absence of their father. Her signature statement would admonish their sons with the words, “Clean up; your father is coming home!” Added to the environment was the ever presence of an older brother who was perfect in every way—a constant feature and reminder of success.

 

Because of his father’s deployments to places near and far during his school years, Roger grew up with wide-flung experiences in schools and cities worldwide: Bakersfield, California; Mira Costa, California; Honolulu, Hawaii; Salt Lake City, Utah; Tokyo, Japan, and Cairo, Egypt. These episodes reveal intrigue and challenge as Roger describes significant markers in his growing years.

 

The intermix of people and places with his stories provokes the reader to fear for this 18-year-old as we read about him hitch-hiking alone from Trieste, Italy, through the Yugoslavian Alps in the middle of winter to reach the ship he needed to board for his return to Cairo. As part of this journey, we read about Roger falling asleep alongside the road, alone and cold in the penetrating chill of a major snowstorm. The reader experiences Roger’s wonder as he deals with a hangover in the aftermath and disorder of a fraternity “rush” party and the surprise visit by his father’s best friend, whose comment brought to light the question, “What would your father say if he knew?” (Apparently, the father was never told.)

 

Throughout Roger’s narrative, in each place, there are questions interwoven that he asks about life and the purpose of his own future. The portrayal of Roger searching for his sense of being seemed to propel him to get out on his own as a 20-year-old man. The series of events that follow are filled with character-forming experiences. With strains in his tie with his parents, Roger heads to Alaska. Here he experiences challenging, physical, and exhausting work under precarious circumstances. Roger also experiences the caring discipline of the family who took him in and where the strands of Roger’s life were gathered to culminate the story and lead to the resolution of his journey and the title, That Which Cannot Be Denied. As Roger ends the story of his formative years at this juncture, I encourage you to read on and discover that it is actually the beginning. It reveals the turning point for this young man—for the “fool” (as he refers to himself), in his journey to fulfillment."