Born on a mountaintop in Chicopee Falls, Charlie left home at an early age to play saxophone in the Boston subway system. Successful busking, though, requires a carefree, devil-may-care approach to interpersonal relations of which Charles was incapable. No one stopped to throw pennies. Then inspiration struck. He scribbled down the half-remembered details of a previous life and set out to find an agent. Several boxes of Saltines later,Charlie was rewarded with a publishing contract. But of course nothing in life is perfect, or at least not for long, and soon the young author had blown all his money on cheap booze and donuts.