Park Benches and Nameless Strangers

Charles Vella

Park Benches and Nameless Strangers is based partly on the author’s experiences as a foster child in the Bronx in 1948 and explores the meaning of love and life. It is the story of Eddie—a boy approaching his sixteenth birthday who hasn’t loved anyone since his parents died when he was nine—and has begun to question his ability to love another human being.

Through Eddie’s eyes, we meet the people woven into his day-to-day life—people with whom he develops meaningful relationships. Eddie meets Nancy, a girl his own age, and they share their innermost thoughts and dreams. A retired man who spends his days playing chess in the park counsels Eddie on love, male bonding, and sexual behavior with a delightful combination of Jewish humor and wisdom. A schoolteacher for whom Eddie runs errands gives him advice on his relationships with Nancy and Jack, the building’s gay elevator operator. Jack tries to seduce Eddie almost every day, but Eddie rejects his advances, although he eventually comes to accept Jack for the person he truly is.

In contract, Eddie’s foster mother appears indifferent to him, until she helps Eddie come to grips with his nightmares about the last day he saw his mother. All these characters and other nameless strangers help Eddie learn that he really does have the ability to love.

Paradise Creek Books