Autobiographical. Historical. Enigmatical. How a young black boy helped change America. Pegasus is a firsthand account of a young black boy who becomes a thirteen-year old Mobilgas filling station attendant in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1954. The book describes the amazing challenges and opportunities provided by the station's courageous white proprietors, a father and son, who basically became the boy's surrogate grandfather and father. It is an autobiographical journey of a life before, during and after the 1957 Little Rock Integration Crisis. The filling station is the unusual setting that is the center of the boy's universe. Pegasus describes how he got there, what he did there and what came afterward. It also explains how the book got its name, while the subtitle: The White Man, The Red Horse, The Black Boy is self-explanatory. It describes the interesting mix of cars, characters and circumstances the young attendant encountered daily at the filling station. This book shares with readers a unique perspective of troubled times in, according to license plates at the time, the "Land of Opportunity". This book is the personal story of a Negro kid growing up in the turbulent South, living reality, recognizing the need for change and hoping to help facilitate it. This narrative illustrates the passion, both love and hate, exhibited on both sides of the color line. The color divide was shaped by social mores, discrimination and history. This book describes people, black and white, who touched his life, gave him encouragement, enlightenment and balance, and helped him understand the racial status quo. It also describes those who gave him pause, shock and fear. The book has 39 chapters, including "1950s Filling Station Facts". Some of the book's interesting characters and their personae include: Urinating Man - Forbidden Toilets, Carl Tullos - Immoral Hustler, Gary St. John - Blue-eyed Soul Brother, Casket Man - Impersonating a Nigger, Professor Townsend - Fantasy Lady, Miss Fairlane - aka Marilyn Monroe, Vernon Walker - The Great Pretender, Reverend Cotton, Three Cool White Cats and many incarnations of Jim Crow. The author's experiences cover a wide range of emotion and passion during his first 21 years of life, including sex, love, violence, humility, humanity and racism. He interfaced with, among others, Ferrell Faubus (son of Governor Orval E. Faubus), Daisy Bates, the Negro Nine, Fats Domino and Jimmy Reed.
About the Author: The author, Eddie Joe Washington, was born 3 April 1941, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and enlisted in the United States Army 18 July 1962 and served his entire career in Military Intelligence. His life during this 21 year period is described in detail in this book. The military training and assignments, formal college education, world-wide travel and other personal experiences, spanning military and civilian careers, helped the author present Pegasus in context. The author was especially enlightened by the opportunity to live outside the United States, in Germany and Turkey for over ten years, which gave him an objective look at his homeland. The author and his wife travelled extensively through Europe including the countries of Germany, England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain, which included watching a bull fight. But the highlight of this period for Mary and Eddie was their vacation to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. He also earned a Master of Science Degree in Business Administration from Boston University. From 1984 to 2013, Eddie Washington worked for defense contractor, which primarily supports Department of Defense customers nationwide. During his career there, Eddie grew from staff member to project manager to program manager and finally to subcontracts manager. He was employed for 29 years and took taken advantage of many interesting opportunities, including travel to Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii and Spain. He and his wife live in Southern Maryland and have three grown sons, Duane, Edward and Eric. Eddie plans to write more books and short stories.