Mustard Man — David Ward

The heroes are hidden among us.Innocence is the gift that enables every new child to see the world in the splendor that it could be. For a while, it blinds them to the injustice and neglect, all the while opening their eyes to the marvels. Innocence is about all Poo Lezenby has going for him. How long can he hold on to it through a rotating door of caregivers, part-time dads, and finally an orphanage?“Mustard Man” follows the events in the life of the child with the unfortunate name as he struggles to replace the lost innocence with faith in the absence of hope. The same abandonment that nearly shuts him down him also opens up the channel through which he connects with the heroes: miraculous people doing miraculous things. Armed with an ancient text, the tattered remnants of a small section of a New Testament, Poo sets out on a quest of internal discovery, specifically, the meaning of a parable of moving mountains with “..faith as a grain of mustard seed...”As an adult, Poo is reunited with a childhood friend, Roland, and they run with an experiment that makes them a fortune in the condiment business. However, when the business threatens to reveal Roland’s dark secret, the duo develop an elaborate scheme to circumvent the system. Along the way, a cast of colorful characters from a homeless man to a former preacher turned biker to a gang leader, each lend a speck of their own insight to guide his journey. Poo’s quest comes full circle where his spiritual journey meet his physical life atop a pile of broken dreams. In the end, his innocence is lost, but the greater gift is found, and he must move a mountain.The heroes are hidden within us.