A Midwinter's Tale

by Andrew M. Greeley

Published 31 December 1998
In high school, Charles "Chucky" Cronin O'Malley is a short, wiry youth with flaming red hair and a gift for the blarney. Too small for the important positions on the football team, he is the ball holder on kickoffs and an honorary "fourth string" quarterback. He becomes a legend when a comedy of errors and lucky mistakes helps him lead his team to the city championship. All Chucky wants out of life is to go to Notre Dame, become an accountant, and have a nice, orderly life, but the Deity seems to have other plans for him. Again and again his courage and compassion get him into impossible scrapes - with black marketeers, border patrols, his commanding officer, and the U.S. Army. Only his trademark combination of quick wit and blind luck (and maybe a little Heavenly intervention) sees him safely out of harm's way.