The Test
Page 4
I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept on reliving the kiss and the walk and the elderly couple I saw dancing to the Big Band in their minds at Jones Beach. Two hearts beating as one. Growing old together. Happily. I wasn’t used to seeing love in its most pure form. Maybe in the movies, but definitely not in my house or any other house on Coolidge Avenue for that matter. Maybe it was possible.
•
The first period bell echoed in the hallway at nine o’clock sharp, Monday morning. Students were laughing and talking at a fevered pitch, locker doors slammed shut, their combination locks snapped closed, and I was running to catch my first class when I saw Vida striding toward me. She was wearing glamorous, oversized, dark sunglasses, which was strange to begin with, but it was her tight posture and resigned expression that made me pull up short.
“Hi,” I offered with a faltering grin.
She didn’t say anything at first. The bell stopped ringing and, in the crazy silence, she slid her sunglasses down her nose with one finger. Just far enough to show me that her perfect almond eyes were red rimmed from crying but strangely filled with resolve. My stomach flip-flopped as I waited for my fate to be sealed.
“They’ll send me to live with my aunt in Texas if I see you again,” she said in a whisper. “I won’t see you again.”
“It’s just a threat, they won’t send you away.”
“I can’t, Jack. I want to, but I can’t. Don’t be mad at me. Please.”
I wanted to kill. I wanted to scream. I wanted to hurt someone. Her father or her mother or whomever had laid down the law.
Vida read my rage, and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry,” she managed, then pushed her Audrey Hepburn sunglasses back up the perfect bridge of her nose, covering her emotion, and stared at me as if trying to memorize my face for just an instant and then turned and walked away—slowly but deliberately past the silent lockers, and yellow-tiled walls, and student art projects, and gilded trophies from victorious teams. She picked up her pace, but then paused for a moment at the end of the hallway, and I prayed she’d come running back.
Vida turned the corner and was gone.
Cary Grant would have known what to say to keep Audrey Hepburn from walking out of his life, but I wasn’t Cary. I was 14 years old and rendered speechless, with a heart that was broken.
I moved forward very slowly, very confused, and very late into Madame Stein’s French class.
•
“Are you all right Mr. Morgan?”
I hadn’t heard the car pull into the driveway of the Coolidge Avenue house. I hand-signaled the concerned young man peering through the driver’s-side window of my rental to give me a moment while I cleared my head. He seemed to understand I needed some space, walked back across the street, and gathered his family. He had a beautiful wife, and two well-dressed boys, aged five and seven, barely able to control their excitement as they took in, with pride, the beauty of their first home.
All that was left to do was hand off the keys, pick up a check at the attorney’s, and catch a flight out of Idlewild. At least that would get the ex off my back. I knew it would be the best money I’d ever spent.
I shook off the ghosts, cleared my throat that was curiously thick and met the family on the front lawn, my arms outstretched, holding a full set of keys in one hand, and a bottle of champagne in the other.
The family greeted me, almost in unison. There were backslaps and handshakes and hugs and squeals that allowed me, finally, to loosen up and share their excitement.
“How’s your mother, James?” I asked fondly as we stepped up onto the porch. “How’s Vida doing?”
• • •
About the Author
John Lansing started his career as an actor in New York City. He spent a year at the Royale Theatre playing the lead in the Broadway production of “Grease.” He then landed a co-starring role in George Lucas’ “More American Graffiti,” and guest-starred on numerous television shows. During his fifteen-year writing career, Lansing wrote and produced “Walker Texas Ranger,” co-wrote two CBS Movies of the Week, and co-executive produced the ABC series “Scoundrels.” John’s first book was Good Cop Bad Money, a true crime story with former NYPD Inspector Glen Morisano. NOOK Book bestseller, The Devil’s Necktie was his first novel. Blond Cargo, the second novel in the Jack Bertolino series, was published in 2014. A native of Long Island, John now resides in Los Angeles. Visit Lansing’s website at: www.johnlansing.net
About the Tatra Press ShortTake Original imprint
Tatra Press’ ShortTake Original imprint focuses on long-form journalism, narrative non-fiction and literary fiction and publishes titles in e-book format only and of about 30 to 120 pages.
New ShortTake Original titles:
Kremlin Speak: Inside Putin’s Propaganda Factory
By Lukas I Alpert
ISBN: 9780989835268
Publication date: 11/01/2014
$2.99
If you thought Moscow’s propaganda campaigns ended with the Cold War, think again. The Kremlin’s efforts to influence global discourse has only grown more sophisticated with the creation of state-run, English-language broadcaster RT. Leading the charge of several increasingly polished, government-run, English language channels, RT has won fans by billing itself as a network willing to challenge the narrative offered by traditional broadcasters like CNN and the BBC and give a voice to stories mainstream media ignores. But a closer look reveals that it is really a slick disinformation tool aimed at furthering Russia’s foreign policy objectives by denigrating the West at all costs.
About the Author
Alpert is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, previously based in the Moscow bureau and currently living in New York.
The Journal
By Josh Karlen
ISBN: 9780989835251
Publication date: 11/01/2014
$2.99
Following his parents’ deaths, a son discovers their personal journals and uses them to piece together the evolution of their marriage, its break-up and the lives they lived and the many they touched.
About the Author
A former international correspondent and currently an news editor, Karlen is the author of a collection of essays, Lost Lustre: A New York Memoir. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.
The Beginnings of Angels
By Andrew Sulavik
ISBN: 9780989835275
Publication date: 11/01/2014
$4.99
For millennia, man has grappled with the notion that there are beings that connect us to a higher order, to Gods. In this study, Sulavik draws from exhaustive research to elucidate the origins of angels—not only from the Christian perspective, but also from other religions such as Judaism and Zoroastrianism. This work presents new thinking around the perennial questions surrounding the origins of angels, man’s relationship to them—and how our understanding has changed over eras from the Ancient to the contemporary.
About the Author
Andrew T. Sulavik is a native of Connecticut, where he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut. His education also includes a doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and a master’s degree in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee. He has published a book and a dozen articles on medieval scriptural exegesis and preaching. His other publications on angels include All about Angels and Protestant Theological Writings on Angels in Post-Reformation Thought from 1565 to 1739. Now a Virginian by marriage, he enjoys spending time on “the fun side of the Potomac” (Olde Town, Alexandria, Virginia) with his wife Renée, their cat Monte, and their two Japanese Chins, Miki and Picco.
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