By Katarina Tepesh

“Can You Hear Me Screaming?” a novel by Eric Obenauf, featuring main protagonist Bee, a college student who’s existence is laced with the frustrations that go hand in hand with confusion. Dealing with trauma of a sudden death of his father and making an agonizing decision concerning an unwanted pregnancy. “My purpose is not to fly, but to soar. You see, I’m empty handed, but I hold the world,” says Bee.

The story takes place in New York City and Croatia. Obenauf describes Croatia in a unique style. “Adjacent to the town was the rock beach where all the swimmers went. In between those two points – though closer to the sidewalk corner than to the beach – was a large patch of pointy gray boulders, dark on the outside from where the water made them wet. They huddled together like devoted legions of followers bowing before their lord. In the middle was a rock podium where stood their god: a moss-green statue of a woman in a thin dress that seemed to belong more to the wind than to her. She stood in solitude, her right arm gently extended to receive a bird. Her body faced the sea, but her head was turned back over her shoulder to look at the town as though she were leaving and never returning.”

“I can do anything I want because I am alive and I can’t think of one good reason not to. Can you hear me screaming? Listen or not, I don’t care, just know that I’m screaming.”

Eric Obenauf is the son of famous Melissa Pintar Obenauf, co-owner of www.CroatiaGifts.com

Eric graduated from New York University where he majored in Dramatic Writing. In the summer of 2001 he toured with the professional dance group “Zivili,” performing in refugee camps, orphanages, and homes for the elderly throughout Croatia.

Eric is a participant of the Two Dollar Radio Movement. The purpose is to reestablish the literary, cultural and artistic spirit of publishing. Submit your work at www.twodollarradio.com

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