The Spin — Don Keith

"Sometimes you must listen to your heart, not just your head." Jerry Gray is an average working man, a straight-arrow, a faithful husband, good father, and solid provider. But now some very non-average problems are threatening to overwhelm him. His marriage is failing, his daughter may well be losing her fight with a rare blood disease, and he is financially strapped from that illness and paying his late father's nursing home and funeral expenses. He is also frustrated because he cannot follow a long-held dream. Then, at the worst possible time, he is laid off from his job. That is the final blow that pushes Jerry to step outside his straight-arrow existence--the one instilled in him by his late father--and take a risk he would never have contemplated before: bet everything he has left on one spin of the roulette wheel in Las Vegas. But news of his quest finds its way into the media and before he knows it, Gray's spin captures the imagination of millions. Many of them decide they want to take their own spin with him in an effort to break out of their dismal existence. Or just to take a chance on something better. Hundreds show up at Jerry's house in Southern California, hundreds more join him as he makes his way to Vegas and The Spin. As the resulting media circus makes The Spin far more than it was when it began, Jerry Gray realizes that it is a powerful symbol for him and for others who have resisted stepping beyond the usual and mundane in order to reach for the exceptional. Along the way, we meet a fascinating cast of characters, each of whom achieve a new life after participating in Gray's spin. There is Chauncey, Jerry's and his late father's friend and co-worker, who holds a deep, dark secret Jerry could have never guessed. A beautiful would-be singer whose self-imposed limitations have prevented her remarkable music from being heard. A throwback from the "Summer of Love" whose odd advice and incantations urge them all along to a new way of looking at life. A frustrated novelist whose fear of failure stymies his stories before they are ever committed to the page. The owners of a struggling off-the-strip casino and the publisher of a gritty, girly magazine who realize their own dreams when The Spin lands in their laps. A pro-basketball player whose addiction has him on death's edge until he literally drops into the middle of the odd caravan as it winds its way through the desert, headed for The Spin. Once you experience the shocking, unexpected, but powerfully inspiring outcome of Jerry's fascinating story and after you get to know these fascinating individuals, the message becomes clear. It is not about red or black on the Las Vegas casino roulette wheel. This remarkable story will inspire everyone to listen to his or her heart, take reasonable chances, and reach for a dream.