A box of book
By Cheryl Courtney Semick | 11th February 2008
It looked like a box of chocolates. A fancy ribbon held the contents secure but the receiver was hesitant to open the unexpected gift and gently pushed it aside. It was three days before Christmas 2007 and although I was the one who delivered the box, I was not the one who packed it.
The receiver, Lois Johnson, was the author of the book that was hidden inside the box. I called her that morning to ask if I could come over to get her signature on some paperwork related to her copyright, so she was expecting me. She wasn’t expecting me to bring a gift, thus her hesitancy to open it in front of me.
I didn’t catch on that the reason she didn’t want to open my ‘gift’ was because she didn’t have one for me, so I prodded her to open the box. Her daughter, Jackie, also goaded Lois into opening it. It was all just a fun way Jackie and I cooked up to surprise Lois with the first copy of her new book.
As much as I wanted to see Lois’ face when she first set eyes on her new book, I too couldn’t wait for that box to open. You see, I’m the co-author and this is the first printed book with my name on the cover. Naturally, you can see that I really wanted that box to open!
The author’s free copies had arrived at Jackie’s house the night before so in the morning, she called me and we created this unique way to surprise Lois. Jackie had an empty box of chocolates and said she would put one book inside, wrap it with a ribbon and leave it on the front seat of her car. She would arrive before me and I would grab it from Jackie’s car and present it to Lois as a Christmas gift before discussing paperwork. It all worked fine, after some coaxing.
Lois was indeed surprised to hold her book in her hands, but for some reason she put it right back in the box, I’m guessing because she didn’t realize that it was real. We quietly told her to look at her book and gingerly she picked it up again. She seemed confused as to why it came in a chocolate box and it took some time to convince her that it wasn’t a conspiracy. When all was clear, we autographed a copy to each other and one for Jackie, dedicated the book to God through prayer, then took care of the copyright paperwork for the Library of Congress.
My visit ended up being several hours and after Jackie left, Lois and I sat in awe of all that went in to writing her story. Four years in the making! Within those four years we had both suffered unexpected, severe medical challenges along with many other circumstances that threatened to bring the work to a halt. But we kept plugging away and there we were, holding our newborn baby.
We marveled at the cover and spine and flipped the pages, turning it around and around until tears swelled up in our eyes. Together we bowed our heads and thanked God for all he did to bring this dream to fruition and for all he planned to do in the lives of its readers through the message within its pages.
You see, the story is about her son, Gary Johnson, who drowned in the lake pictured on the cover. It was Lake Santa Fe in Germantown Hills that claimed Gary’s life. He was a star athlete at Metamora High School in 1976 and his sudden death shook the community. Lois purposed in her heart to write about her son’s life to bring hope to those who lose children to sudden death. She also felt that teens should make sure they know where they are going after they die and so she began typing her story. Thirty years later, her daughter Linda, my personal friend, recommended my writing services to make that happen.
For me, it is more than just my name on the cover. As the ‘ghostwriter’ of this incredible story, I became the mother whose son was suddenly yanked from her life. I was in the lake drowning, struggling for air. I was on the beach with those who watched a beloved friend and neighbor disappear from sight. I walked into the home of a mourning family surrounded by friends and family as their hearts broke into pieces; I was there through the long years as those pieces were put back together.
I never thought my writing career would lead me down this path, but telling Lois’ story was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had in my career. I can only imagine what the Disciples of Jesus must have felt writing their accounts of his birth, life and death.
How do you capture a life on paper? How does one reveal the essence of a human being in mere words? I see the answer in the Bible. Through dozens of ghostwriters, God captured the story of his son on paper and protected it through centuries from libel, copyright infringement and sheer annihilation. His son’s story will never go out of print - and it can never be contained in a box.