Author’s Note

In a world where friends seem few—a world where mistrust has promoted building walls around the heart—we long for genuine community, even if it’s with just one or two others. That cry for communion is inherent. We are not designed for isolation.

Unlike all others, two characters in ancient history (Biblical), Jonathan and David, will always be known for their friendship. Few will ever experience it. It was rooted in a covenant ritual but never a matter of dead tradition. It was a shared living reality, determining everything they did concerning the other.

The core definition of the word covenant is—binding agreement. So, the question regarding friendship is, what makes the agreement binding? Is it law? Is it culture? Is it a moral obligation? Perhaps it is a matter of the heart which ultimately transcends “boxed definitions.”

Covenants are proven to be true or false only when tested, and they will be harried. To examine any story of established friendship is to discover that an authentic covenant union is never cheap or superficial. It comes at an enormous price but also brings invaluable rewards.

Laura’s Summer is the story of a rare friendship involving three young people. It is not a fairy-tale story of sugar and spice and everything nice; it winds its way through the summers of their lives and the winters that war against their summers.

I have woven together a tale reflecting a personal journey of seventy-three years in an honest effort to honour and celebrate bona fide friendship as I have experienced it. -HDL