by David Wayne
Brenda was coming back to life fast. A college brain inside a twelve-year-old’s body is bizarre. Living with a child protégé would take some getting used to. Susan handed me the paper, clearly amazed at what she’d seen.
“Let’s see what you’ve drawn today, peanut,” I said. But it wasn’t a drawing, it was a poem.
Life Unfolds
The path ahead, is a book unread
Its mysteries are tales untold
The future is blind, revealed in time
As adventures of life unfold
I don’t have a creative bone in my body, and I certainly don’t understand poetry, but this was profound, at least for a kid. “Brenda, this is amazing, but you left off the most important part,” I said.
She looked disappointed. “What’s that?”
I laughed. “You forgot to tell us what to do.”
“That’s simple,” she with a shrug. “My father always says, when you reach a stalemate, flip a coin.”
“We can’t decide life by flipping a coin, silly girl,” Susan laughed.
Or can we? I thought, reaching into my pocket—and rubbing the double-sided coin. The one with heads on both sides would provide a predetermined outcome of my choosing. Would that be fair to Susan? I honestly had no preference; I was only concerned with keeping my family safe. And my gut leaned in one direction. If Susan disagreed, we could be at an impasse. It could cause a rift—but a safe decision had to be made.
“Little girl, that would be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard if it wasn’t so brilliant,” I said, looking at Susan and lifting my shoulders up and down.
“You’re kidding me. You’re not suggesting we decide our life with the toss of a coin, are you, Max?”
“Why not? What else are indecisive adults to do? You got a better idea?” I said.
She hesitated, “Well, not really, but…”
I put on a fake Chinese voice. “Confucius say, ‘When at a fork in road, flip coin.’”
“I think it would be fun,” Brenda said. “Do it, Max, flip that sucker.”
I looked at Susan, and she threw up her hands. “At least it won’t be our fault if we make the wrong decision. We can always blame Confucius,” she said.
I shook the coin for good luck, blowing into my fist. “Come on lady luck, point us in the magic direction,” I said. “I’m going to call it in the air. Are you guys ready?”
“We’re ready,” they squealed.
I flipped the coin high in the air and watched it make a big arc. It fell, spiraling downward, rolling head over heels through the air, rapidly spinning between heads and heads. It hit the grass and bounced, rolling along on its side. But I still couldn’t call it.
Both girls were jumping around, squealing, and giggling. “Call it, Max, hurry,” they screamed.
It rolled over into the dirt and began to wobble. It was ready to pick a side, but I couldn’t decide.
“It’s falling over,” Brenda yelled.
Susan touched my shoulder.
“Heads we leave Atlanta, tails we stay,” I called, just before the coin fell over to reveal our fate.
Brenda screeched out, “We’re leaving!”
Susan gave me a big hug, whispering in my ear, “So, that double-sided coin came in handy after all,” she said, kissing my cheek.
“What coin?” I said.
“The one you got from that little country store. You know, the same place you found that nasty girlie magazine that I tossed?” she said, using her yucky face.
“I wondered where that went,” I laughed.
As we walked back to the apartment, a threesome hand in hand, I couldn’t help but wonder what lay ahead for us—my new family. Brenda was right, the future is a book unread; it’s a mystery that only time can reveal. But the twenty-first century was over, that much was clear; modern life had been erased by the Event. Some people thought the worst days were behind us, but they were fooling themselves. Those days lay ahead, in a tale yet to unfold.
If you enjoyed The End Begins by David Wayne, then look for the upcoming three book series, The Two, coming winter 2019.
Book 1: Sex, Drugs & Country Music
Book 2: Kinky, Rich and Famous
Book 3: Love, Life & Curveballs
The Two
Rodney Byrnes is the drug-addicted, alcoholic lead singer of Lusty Child, a heavy metal rock band. He skims through life playing dive bars in St. Pete Beach Florida where he’s a local rock god. He ingests drugs and sleeps with a different tourist every night, sometimes more than one at a time.
At twenty-eight, he has reached the outer age bracket to become a national rock star. When his band performs for a major record producer and is turned down, he is forced to face what’s ahead: being a broke lounge lizard for the rest of his life or cleaning up and starting anew.
Rodney keeps a secret journal, a book where he writes his private thoughts and fears. Unbeknownst to anyone, he also writes illustrated poetry and secretly has written country music lyrics for an aspiring singer shopping a record deal in Nashville. All of this is kept tucked away in his private journal.
Lisa Thorten is a workaholic entrepreneur, running a business in the man’s world of construction. After eight-years of around the clock work and no personal life, she has finally built a successful company. But a lawsuit against a crooked real estate developer threatens to ruin her company at the same time a property manager demands kickbacks and sex for a contract that will keep her firm afloat while fighting the lawsuit. All this at a time her personal life is crashing down around her.
A chance encounter leads to the unlikeliest of friendships. After Rodney cleans up, forced to face the world sober with and a shit day job, he finds himself thrust into the world of songwriting—challenged with writing songs for country artists, a genre he hates but offers a big money payoff—if he can cut it.
Eventually, the friendship morphs into more, and Lisa, the workaholic loner, discovers a surprise that shakes her world—kinky sex.
Lisa decides to enter the music industry and sell Rodney’s songs, where fame and big money awaits while she also navigates the seedy shark filled waters of running a big business.
Neither of them has ever been in a serious real relationship before. Plus, she is fighting for the life of her company while he is battling addictions, so can they also take on the music industry together, as Two?
This is a multi-media book. The novel contains songs which you can play and poems that are read to you. You get a peek inside Rodney’s secret journal where he also illustrates the poetry text and song lyrics with cool drawings. All songs, poems and drawings are by the author.