Growing up in the South- Stories of a boy named Roland in the 1960s

One boy ‘s experience with southern religion, hypocrisy, life, and the hope that abides.

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When thy mind leaves behind its dark forest of delusion, thou shalt go beyond the scriptures of times past and still to come.
Bhagavad Gita

Several years ago, I was given a writing prompt: create a child’s character and his or her relationship with religion. To that end, I created Roland McCray, a boy growing up in the south. I liked Roland so much that I wrote several more and am still writing short stories based on his life. All characters and events are fictional, and any real locations are used in a fictional manner.

This is a list of some of those stories about Roland McCray as he grows up in the south in the turbulent 1960s to the 1970s. They are in chronological order based on the character’s age, not when the story was written. There are several more “Roland” stories shared on Medium, and all the stories are published in my book Finding Roland McCray. Many of the stories were written as standalones over the course of several years and I kindly ask that you overlook repetition of background information.