About Billy Garrett
It was a lot of fun writing The Secret Life of Tumkit.
It all started when I saw a small rabbit sitting in the middle
of my backyard. Wanting a closer look, I cautiously moved
toward the rabbit stopping about fifteen feet away. I thought
it was very odd he didn’t run. For the longest time, we both
just stared at each other and then he finally turned and
disappeared into the bushes. I didn’t think much about the encounter, other than this particular rabbit seemed awfully brave. When I awoke the next morning and looked out the window he was back again. I called my grandson over, who’s eight-years-old and lives with us, and asked him if he’d seen that rabbit before.
“Nope, I think he’s a baby Grandpa.” After the rabbit was done nibbling on some grass, he hopped under our deck. “Grandpa, do you think he’s living under there? Where did he come from, why is he all alone, and where’s his mother?” he kept firing questions at me. “Grandpa, we need to give him a name, everyone’s got to have a name.”
I thought for a moment and said, “How about naming him Tumkit?” “That’s perfect, Grandpa,” he replied with a big smile on his face. For the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about Tumkit. My grandson’s questions were good ones, and there was only one way to answer his un-answerable questions and that was to ask the rabbit himself. This story is a true account of Tumkit’s amazing adventures.
I am a retired general contractor living in Bend, Oregon during the summer and Palm Desert, California in the winter. I love playing the guitar, fishing the ocean, writing and most of all playing with our five wonderful grandkids. Everyone told me grandkids would be the best and they were right. They’ve had such a positive impact on my life. They taught me how to have fun with my imagination again, just by watching them play with the simplest of things. I began to write, at the age of sixty-five, because of my grandmother. She passed away when I was young and all that’s left of her are some faint memories and few black and white photo’s. I know absolutely nothing about her past life so when I told that to my wife she said, “Why don’t you write a book about your adventures? That way, when the grandkids are old enough, they can read how they all came to be born in Bend, Oregon.” As a result, I published my first book, Behind Sight. My second book, The Secret Life of Tumkit, is a children’s book. I’m currently working on a sequel. Hope you enjoy the stories.
