Reap the Hot September Harvest

The novel is a MLK trilogy, titled Reap the Hot September Harvest. It is literature of the Civil Rights Movement’s history and has a broad appeal to America at large. On Mother’s Day, 1960, after meeting MLK in Atlanta, Desiree—the title of Book One—and the Freedom Riders are attacked by the Klan in Anniston, AL. Did she faint, or die and return? Is she the reason an elderly Black vet of WWII kills himself? Answers are revealed and rejected. Treatments fail, years pass, desperation sets in. Then, Desiree meets a young minister returning from Egypt with spiritual enlightenment he garnered from an ancient scribe of God’s philosophy. Desiree, now a yoga adept, is intrigued. He claims they are missing links in Blacks’ religious practices, and can demystify the mythology of white supremacy. Her feelings soar, but she soundly rejects his ugly denunciation of Blacks’ force fed Christianity. The minister’s rebound kindles a hasty romance. Desiree purrs, “Why am I a flower of sacrifice.” “Flowers nourish the soul, sacrifice means atonement.” Enduring moments, strumming her heart strings with spiels like why African-Americans are proponents of jazz, ripens her for the obvious question. Desiree resists; she is not ready to reveal her dark side. The reverend persists, and says he is the chosen pastor of a church in a small Southern town. It promises a chance to establish the MLK Center of Social Awareness and Spirituality, make MLK’s Promised Land a reality. In Book Two we read the reverend’s story, while Desiree arranges to relocate, become a pastor’s wife and teach yoga.