THE TWELFTH ANGEL

The heartbroken head of a multizillion-dollar corporation finds peace of mind, thanks to the world-class spunk of a gutsy-but-doomed, freckle-faced, Little Leaguer. Supersuccessful businessman John Harding's return to the New Hampshire village of his childhood was to have been the triumph of a lifetime. At the helm of his ultraunbelievably successful software company, Millennium Unlimited, John and his wife Sally and their cute little bicycle-riding, baseball-playing son Rick were welcomed back to Boland with a brass band and all the best wishes of the straight-shooting townsfolk. But then an old Ford pickup blew a tire and crashed into the Hardings' station wagon, sending Sally and little Rick to live with the angels. Alone in his big house, the house that Sally had furnished in full, totally authentic Martha Stewart, John, living on peanut butter and crackers, crazed by grief, actually considers that most un-Rotarian and downbeat way out—suicide. Then, after some straight talk from the cheap but incredibly hard-working and crusty old housekeeper and after a visit from his old childhood buddy Bill, John takes those first steps back to the upbeat world—steps that take him also to management of a Little League team where he meets the cutest, spunkiest little kid in the world: Timothy Noble. Scrappy little Tim can't hit and he can't field, but he's got a heart as big as, well, a supersuccessful software corporation. John teaches Tim to hit, but Tim teaches John lessons a zillion trillion times more Important before he begins to display Distressing Symptoms. Another positive-thinking parable from the master of autosuggested business and personal success.