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         RIFLE SHOT
                                                       Jon  Thörngren 

        PRELIMINARY JACKET COVER

In 1953, Richard Carl Harkins and his family join the white flight from south Houston, Texas. They settle into a sprawling ranch style house in an emerging, nouveau riche neighborhood near what has become the opulent Galleria area (President George H.W. Bush country). A female dominated household, increasing family wealth, and a continuous exposure to prejudice gnarl the roots of his childhood. During his senior year in high school, a shooting incident destroys his silver-spoon future. Through college, marriage, and divorce, this event mixed with his upbringing becomes the mold for a hardened mentality believing success comes by caste and by chance. Was Richard Harkins a racist, a murderer, a chauvinist, or just the heel print of his environ- ment? Or was he understandable, even forgivable? Historically set in Houston and Dallas, Texas, mid 1940's through 1980's.