Small-town life was simple in southwest Oklahoma in the late 1940s. Oklahoma was a dry state then. It was a time when whiskey could be obtained only from bootleggers. NEAR PERFECT is a story about a bootlegger named Slats, who finds his way to Heaven's gate in spite of his occupation and appetite for pleasures of the flesh. Slats' story contains a cast of characters that includes his good friend, a Catholic priest, and a Baptist preacher who is his cousin by marriage. It's a story about the nurse he loved, and his Ft. Worth lover. From the memories he shared with his childhood companions, to the ironies they shared together in their adult lives, Slats' story is set in those simpler times, yet contains timeless human events. Subconsciously, I learned about telling stories from my Uncle Hack, my Grandma Emma, my Cousin Happy, a colorful character named Nasty Rankin, and Emmett, an old cowboy who was my father's closest friend. Their memories helped shaped this story. While Slats is a character of fiction, my experience is that "real life" is filled with the same human circumstances of romance and humor, disappointment and tragedy, and some of the barriers to perfection similar to Slats'. For those reasons, NEAR PERFECT is a story, in a sense, about each of us too. The final dialogue between Heaven's Gatekeeper and Slats just might provide a sense of acceptance, understanding, or even forgiveness for ourselves or others. It might even be possible to experience a glimpse of what is worthy in each of us. Like Slats, we are all mere mortals.