Don't Call Me Jupiter — Book One "Tightrope": Memoir of a Reluctant Hippie Kid

In 1962, the Bross family was selected to demonstrate Dr. Sabin's oral polio vaccine for the Cincinnati Enquirer. By 1973, the children were homeless. Even before their mother's second divorce, unusual behavior emerged. She took the children on naked nature walks and once exposed herself at a low-flying plane. After the divorce, she adopted a hippie lifestyle—changed her name to Mare, stopped shaving, and established a rule that children could smoke marijuana at age ten or older. She then placed her five children in the homes of various people she knew. Tom's siblings stayed with friends' houses, while Tom, age twelve, was placed in the garage of one of his mother's ex-lovers. This is the first book in a series that documents these experiences and their aftermath.