First Time

The Delaware Press Association has awarded First Time second place for a short story collection written by a single author in their 2017 Communications Contest. First Time is a collection of ten short stories by Frank E Hopkins. While each story has separate characters they are linked by the theme that each story exposes the main character to the first time they experience an event participated in by all. The stories include anticipation of the happiness they expect; the dismay and wonder they feel during the event; and the surprising ending. The collection starts with: "Passages South" - male college students in search of excitement on a trip to Florida during spring break; "My First Four Days in Sorrento" - romance by a mature man, that perplexes his children; Two college freshmen who meet and start a romance in "My First Psych Class", taught by professors behaving strangely, who appear in need of counseling;"My First Car" - purchased from a Mafia - connected used car salesman; "My First July 4 Rehoboth Beach Weekend" - parties and misguided fireworks; "Steve's First Woman" - self-explanatory;"The Romance Life Cycle" - danger, danger do not eat yourself out of love; "Santa Claus Stories " - why do parents lie to their children; "The Last Ski Trip" - two friends offer to introduce a recently divorced man to the single life at Sugarbush, VT, illustrating the validity of the theory of unforeseen consequences. The last story, "My Trip Alone", relates the bittersweet recollection of a widower who adjusts to his wife's death earlier by revisiting their favorite fall trip to see the autumn foliage in the mountains of West Virginia