Making Contact. (Original novel)

This thesis comprises the first twelve chapters of a novel. Employing a first-person narrator, these chapters explore three different themes: a mystery involving a series of violent events; minor-league baseball and the Washington, D.C., suburbs; and a young man's attempts to come to terms with a relationship with his now-deceased father that failed, in part, because of baseball. The issues raised by the violent events and their aftermath parallel, and reflect, the main character's conflict involving his father.