The Beetle Experience

About this book

SOME STORIES ARE TOO FULL OF LAUGHTER TO BE TOLD QUIETLY.Stephen Michael Bailey, known to nearly everyone as "Beetle," was a laughter-generating, treasure-hunting, car-rebuilding, churchgoing, movie-quoting, sasquatch-hunting, model rocket-making bundle of joy. He was also the best friend of Dana Morrison. In The Beetle Experience, Dana brings him back to center stage, Rubik's cube in hand, protesting all the way: "You never said I was going to be the main character!"A MEMOIR-PLAY HYBRIDBeetle did not speak in paragraphs. He spoke in stories, scenes, punchlines, and pranks. So this book is told the same way. It blends memoir narration with dramatic scenes, stage directions, tableaux, monologues, vignettes, and reader's notes. It is meant to be read, remembered, performed, or passed along. You are part of the audience. You are part of the memory.SIX ACTS OF A LIFE WELL LIVEDThe curtain rises on the pre-Beetle days, with pranks, a brand-new truck, and the discovery of Stephen's kryptonite. The campfire years follow, where Beetle is born, his many skills come to light, and that first year of camp comes to a close. Then comes a turning point of change and hardship, a season of breaking and mending, Danforth shenanigans, caretaking, time apart, and treasure hunting. The final acts carry the story through Beetle's last days and his homecoming, with tall tales, a Rubik's cube, the big one-liner, and grace for the last mile.A CHEERFUL HEART IS GOOD MEDICINEScripture says in Proverbs 17:22 that a cheerful heart is good medicine, and Beetle is living proof. In Stephen Bailey, God created a medicine man, and a highly proficient one. Through family stories, friends who step forward again, and laughter that echoes off the stage, Dana shows how God used this best friend as a reflection of His own sense of humor, and how faith carried both friends through the hardest chapters.WHO IS BEETLE?Picture a young man on a stool under a warm spotlight: plump, fair-skinned and freckled, flat brown hair, a flannel shirt over a dirty work shirt, worn-out jeans, steel-toe boots, and a mustache that is thin but definitely intentional. He finishes the last moves on a Rubik's cube while his best friend introduces him. His father, Jimmy, steps into the light to tell a tall tale about a creature that grows great big hairy snowshoes in winter, and the whole room laughs. Beetle inherited that gift for storytelling, and an exceptional memory to go with it.INSIDE YOU WILL FIND- Thirty-one scenes across six acts, plus an epilogue- Memoir narration that turns to you, the audience, with backstory- Dramatic dialogue that brings Stephen, Jimmy, and others to life- Stage directions showing how the story could be performed- A glossary of theatrical terms for readers new to the stage- Scripture woven through a life of laughter, loss, and peaceFOR EVERYONE IN THE AUDIENCEWhether you knew Beetle or not, this book offers the blessing of laughter and an invitation to finish well in the race in which you find yourself. If you find yourself laughing, or weeping, or hearing Beetle's voice in your head, then you are exactly where you are meant to be. This is a story that is still unfolding, and you are welcome in it. Take your seat. The curtain is rising.