Under The Hero's Thumb

Phinn as a fourteen year old lives by the beach in Southern California. His best friends are Frosty Jack, a surfer extraordinaire, Chuck, a retired tile layer, and Sue, a sculptor of unusual designs. They sell their beach cottages and journey off. Jack to surf all over the world. Chuck to meet the home run legend, and his brother-in-law, Henry Aaron. Sue to sculpt figures from The Simpsons for La Maison Du Chocolat in Paris. Phinn feels lost and abandoned. He is left with two friends-an obnoxious white Husky with blue eyes he calls Blacky, and Micky, as independent and unpredictable, who is the girlfriend he desires. Phinn witnesses a cargo plane crash at the beach. Roberto Clemente, a famous baseball player, climbs out. He had drowned years ago. He warns Phinn of an earthquake to hit LA. Phinn imagines Roberto rescues him away to become a superhero-Salamander Boy. Is it fantasy or is it real? Phinn decides reluctantly it is. He returns to the catastrophe of the earthquake. Who must Phinn save first? As Salamander Boy or a boy? Because in the chaos, young women, even Micky and others on his block, are being kidnapped. Is it real or imagined? Does it matter?