Woodrow Wilson Nickel

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, referred to endearingly by his friends as "Woody," is 105 years old and approaching death in a VA convalescent home. He hears a reporter on television talking about the impending extinction of giraffes and something breaks within him. After a lifetime of holding his memories silently within himself, he suddenly realizes the importance of writing them down, for the sake of the giraffes, and for Augie Ann, Red’s daughter.

Woody is from the Texas Panhandle, an area shaped by poverty during the Dust Bowl. His mother and sister died of dust pneumonia and his father committed suicide during an argument with Woody. Coming from roots of poverty, Woody doesn’t think life will give him a fair chance, an opinion validated by the discriminating behavior visited on him and his people.

He begins the story as a down on his luck orphan who...