In Search of the 25th Parallel

In this sequel to Nobody Knows Where Frank Hutchison Is Buried, forty years have passed and Frank Hutchison, newly retired from his job as a library custodian, has discovered on the internet that his old friend, Dick Babcock, a successful Florida restauranteur, has died. At once, his dormant guilt for causing The Experiment, their attempt at communal living, to fail resurfaces. He decides that the only way to expiate it is to visit Babcock's grave. On the way he begins to recall the events of his own life since the breakup, and slowly his idealistic dreams and hopes are rekindled, including his youthful love for Cindy, who has always represented meaning, success, creativity, and truth to him. In Florida Frank is reunited with Babcock's widow, Laurie, the fourth member of The Experiment, and the reclusive janitor suddenly finds himself entangled in a web of emotion and indecision with Laurie, his rekindled desire to locate Cindy, and a strange woman whom he meets at the beach and who also seems to represent the possibility of resurrecting his lost idealism.

This is the sequel to 'Nobody Knows Where Frank Hutchison Is Buried', which told the story of two youthful draft evaders, Frank Hutchison and Dick Babcock, who fled to rural Virginia with their girlfriends, Cindy and Laurie, and tried to live a free, idealistic, and communal existence. External events eventually forced them to go their separate ways. In this sequel, Frank returns to New York where, fearing that the FBI is after him, he becomes an activist in counterculture organizations, including the custodian at a progressive museum. When his mother dies and the government pardons draft resisters he becomes a library janitor, and lives reclusively for thirty years until he retires. He learns on the internet that Dick Babcock, who became a successful Florida restauranteur, has died. His dormant guilt for causing the the communal experiment to fail resurfaces, and he decides that the only way to expiate it is to visit Babcock's grave. On the way he entertains the ashes of his dead cat by recounting his life after he left Virginia, and slowly his youthful dreams and passions are rekindled. In Florida he soon finds himself entangled in a web of conflicting emotions, including his fondness for the widow, Laurie, the possibility of locating Cindy, and his attraction to a strange woman whom he meets at the beach, and who also seems to represent the possibility of recapturing his lost idealism and ambition. This book is a humorous story about the baby boomer generation, and the hopes and idealism of many of its members, including difficulties that they faced, such as war, drugs, conscription, and conservative societal values, that no longer exist in contemporary society.

Richard Siciliano attended Washington & Lee University. He was a VISTA, a community organizer, a draft resister, and worked for many years for social services agencies. He writes about the ethos of his generation. He lives in a small town in Northern California