Literary Fiction
Date Published: October 26, 2022
Publisher: MindStir Media
Sitting on a Rainbow: A 21st century Irish American Morality Tale, is a story of severe loss and courageous resilience, financial markets and malfeasances, Irish history and mythology, despicable greed and justice rendered, and broken promises remaining to be mended.
Set in West Palm Beach, Fl. in 2013, or thereabouts, protagonist Patrick Connelly (a.k.a. Paddy or Pat) is a mid-fifties paraplegic and veteran stockbroker/financial adviser at a major Wall Street firm.
Tossing his black Tumi shoulder bag across to the passenger
seat, Patrick braced himself, thrust his folded chair in the open back, and
pressed up and into his beloved silver bullet. Beloved for its utility and
dependability, certainly not its sex appeal. A decade-old minivan is anything
but sexy. He was sick to death of this same old routine. But what choice did he
have? What reasonable choice, that is? He used to do it joyfully, for his
family, his clients, and his own self-interest, of course. But not now, not
like this. The idea of it had become nearly unbearable.
Scooting down the brick-paved driveway, he glimpsed the
early morning, sun-sparked chop of the Intracoastal Waterway before turning
west past lush tropical foliage. Usually taking more interest in the
architectural nuances of his historic neighborhood, he blew through it this
day, his mood anything but leisured. He was late for a meeting. One he had no
interest in attending. Dialing his Sirius radio to the Classic Rock channel,
Richie Havens’s “Freedom” coursed through the cabin like an urgent cry. [1]
Turning right at Olive and heading north, he moved along briskly. The heavier
commute hadn’t finished showering yet.
Patrick Connelly—Pat or Paddy to longtime friends—was moving
steadily through his fifth decade and feeling every bit of it. Two grueling
years spent in the entanglements of divorce had seemed like ten. The textured
plaster and beamed interior walls of his Mizner-inspired house were lined with
boxes he hadn’t yet labored to open. He retained the structure in the
settlement only because Becky wasn’t interested, but its soul was long gone, in
addition to most of the furniture. The process hadn’t been pain-free, that’s
for sure. Going their separate ways was little different than their twenty-five
years of wedded bliss had been. A daily grind where nothing came easy. Two
well-meaning but mismatched people, each deserving better, he’d ascertained.
About the Author
First-time author James Patrick Rooney was born in Bronx, New York, raised in Westchester County and has been living and working in Northern Palm Beach County, Florida for his entire adult life. Young Jimmy’s first loves included sports, particularly ice hockey, a variety of music and culture, and his adopted homeland of Ireland.
When a hockey-related injury at age nineteen left him a paraplegic, he turned his focus away from the physical toward developing his mind. Soon after finishing college at then infamous “Suntan U,” he began a successful thirty-year career in financial advisory with a major Wall Street firm. About that same time, he met his enduring love – his family. Married to Cindy ever since, together they’ve raised two superb children, Patrick and Megan, who are now thriving young adults.
While managing an ambitious reading group (2005-2014), Jim was inspired to write more competently (i.e., several college-level creative writing courses and other modes of self-learning). To hone his skills he wrote short stories, imaginary book reviews for his reading group, and later edited and authored articles for the lifestyle website Throomers (2018-2020). After stepping away from financial advisory in 2014, he began working on his first novel. As is often said, starting with a few core ideas the story then wrote itself.
Part memoir, part fiction, part fantasy, Sitting on a Rainbow is an honest look at living with disability, while it also offers an insider’s view of retail financial advisory and celebrates the current-day relevance of Irish history and mythology. Jim hopes his lighthearted, romantic, suspenseful, and cautionary morality tale will entertain all who come and sit on the rainbow with him.
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