So she spoke for him. “I know,” Karen professed. “I know that you love me. And that’s why I’m here.”
The elation in his eyes validated her.
She kissed him, softly at first.
He pulled her closer. Close enough to feel her heart beating. He embraced her love, silently thanking God for her.
Caleb smiled as he stood in the living room staring at Nigel and Karen. The door was wide open, but the asphyxiating world outside 207 Circle Drive could not flow past the dams in the doorway. Love. Happiness. Hope. Tomorrow. All dams.
* * *
Welcome to our life.
EPILOGUE
After every ending there was a beginning, and this was how our next life would begin.
* * *
Fleeing yesterday. Surviving today. Chancing tomorrow. That was how we once lived. Constricted by time and enslaved by memories. But no more. We vowed to change the way we inhabited our stay here. We resolved to seek freedom from our lives. To venture without reason. Pursue possibility. Cater to love. And to not merely exist. No longer would we haul the burdensome heft of our yesterdays into today. This time we would live free.
* * *
Truth was all we’re carrying into our new lives. Truth; it was an inescapable cage. And how well we accepted this reality determined the inviolable boundaries of our world.
* * *
This was the truth…the only truth that mattered.
* * *
My brother was beside me when our life ended.
He was with me when this new life began.
He is with me now.
And I will be with him always.
Always.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m forever grateful to…
My Heavenly Father
For Life, Love, Blessings, and Dreams.
&
My Mother, Delores
My Grandmothers, Doris and Thelma
For being my unfailing rocks.
&
My Father, Tyrone
My Grandfathers, Willie “Bean” and Lester
For being my steadfast roots.
&
Mrs. Muriel Mixon
(my third-grade teacher)
For opening the door to the world of books with Amelia Earhart’s story.
&
You
(one of my Blessings)
For loving me during the hours.
Credit: Wayne Dunwoody
Anthony Lamarr is a native of North Florida, where he still resides. He is a graduate of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. A novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, Lamarr is author of the novel, The Pages We Forget.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
© 2013 by Anthony Lamarr
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever. For information address Strebor Books, P.O. Box 6505, Largo, MD 20792.
ISBN 978-1-59309-542-0
ISBN 978-1-4767-4727-9 (ebook)
First Strebor Books trade paperback edition December 2013
Cover design: www.mariondesigns.com
Cover photograph: © Keith Saunders/Marion Designs
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