I was a little over 80,000 words into my novel when I came across the curious account of Sylvester Magee. Mr. Magee died in 1971, around the same year that Mr. Sam, one of the characters in my novel, Your Pal Al, died. When writing my story, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. Mr. Sam came to life in the bluish glow of the screen, just as Albert did. They came to life together and grew into real people together. Albert is a young, white boy from Florida. Mr. Sam is an old black man from Georgia. Samson is quite literally larger-than-life. And, up until the time that I discovered Sylvester Magee, I thought he was quite old, too. Meet Mr. Magee.
