Hunter settled into a comfortable, albeit, numbed, routine in middle-age, when he digs out his old vintage guitar. Touching the wood, feeling the contours and playing the instrument ignites passions from his teenage years. 

Hunter has awoken long forgotten dreams. But practicing alone at home, where nobody can hear, isn't enough. He's programmed to seek external validation. Although he tries to appreciate the beauty of the tones of the instrument for themselves, outside the confines of his finely quantified-life of labels and appraisals, he can't seem to and thus finds himself teetered on the edge of the event-horizon, subject to the gravitational pull that threatens to suck him back into the black-hole where he's been hiding.

Aaron Buchwald was born in Ames Iowa. He is the author of, "Bridge Across the Isar," "The Vintage Guitar," "Faint Essence of the Lotus Blossom," and "Integrated Fiber-Optic Receivers." He resides in Newport Beach CA, Hong Kong and Hangzhou China.