Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

long expected will donation.'
On page 119 of the accounts book, Ron settled down to write a complete, though untitled, story
which began: 'A lazy sun peeped over the horizon to throw glittering streamers of light across the
breakers on the surf. The laggoon [sic] lay blue and cool. Tropical birds winged about their daily
business and two figures lay stretched on the white coral sand. Two ragged figures, several feet
apart . . .'
Ron's grasp of English grammar was as uncertain as his spelling. It transpired that these two
figures, a boy and a girl, were the sole survivors of a shipwreck. The girl roused the boy in
traditional fashion ('Bob! Bob! Speak to me!'), whereupon Bob spoke thus: '"Their [sic] gone, all
gone, they're dead and the ship is at the bottom."'
Alone on a desert island paradise, nature takes its course and they swear undying, though entirely
chaste, love. But after being rescued and returning to the United States they drift apart. The story -
interrupted on page 123 by the scribbled working of some hated algebra equations - ends with a
poignant reunion in a San Francisco hotel lobby during which the couple laugh at their earlier
foolishness.
Although Ron's narrative writing was still immature, he demonstrated an obvious talent in the craft
of short-story writing, structuring the narrative skilfully and compensating for what he lacked in
literary skill by sheer productivity.
The budding science-fiction writer poses at his typewriter during a visit
to his parents on the island of Guam in 1928.
The Gold Star arrived back at Guam on 18 December and in the weeks and months that followed
Ron turned out dozens of stories and essays, filling one accounts book after another. His mother
took a photograph of him as a budding young writer, sitting at a desk in the bungalow with his