Twenty years after rocketing to stardom and shocking the world by abruptly disappearing into blue-collar anonymity, times are hard, money is gone, and Tuki Banjo’s rudderless life has collapsed into middle-aged, penny-pinching despair.
This is the story I felt compelled for my favorite character to tell: A quiet, lonely teenage girl with a miserable, impoverished upbringing suddenly had everything, didn’t like it, and walked away. Two decades later Tuki deals with different problems at a different stage of life. Faced with a desperate need to once again get off the mat, Tuki is a shell of what she was at twenty. At forty, the walls off life’s reality are closing in and her will to continue is diminished. She faces the life-defining choice so many do: surrender and die from the outside in or rekindle the determination to persevere.
As with most of my stories, this is a multicultural ensemble story with a positive, inspiring ending. The message woven throughout this story centers around the power of friends stubbornly insisting to help without being asked when sensing they are needed; and that a rich life is never measured by money but by heart, courage, and compassion.
The backdrop for Tuki (Back in the Game with Tweedle & Friends) is the beautiful tapestry of the Thoroughbred horse breeding industry. Tuki is safe here, happy here, and finds true north with newborn foals who love without judgment.
This story is the third in a continuum spanning three decades that started with the romantic comedy 12 Miles to Paradise, which was followed by Tuki Banjo, Superstar. Each is a standalone story with multicultural ensembles. I love this character so very much—all these years later she still inspires me—and trust you’ll feel the same.