A new novel by L. William Gibbons

Elderly Gabriel Townsend is being crushed between the metaphoric anvil of his pragmatic beliefs and the falling hammer of his wife's pending death.

As a child, he scorned the legends of his Native American ancestors and ignored miraculous cures of three family members during the Great Depression. Now facing the loss of his wife, he relives childhood memories, guided by the spirit of his grandfather from beyond - well beyond - the grave. He recalls that, each time a family member was cured, another person of evil character and not of tribal blood disappeared, followed by the mysterious appearance of another wood marker on a sacred tribal hill on the family's land. Finally accepting the truth of long ago, Gabriel plans to beg the elder's spirits to take his life in exchange for his wife's, aware that a fourth marker would symbolize his life - and his death.