dontravis.com blog post #613
Image Courtesy of Freepik
Enough about AI.
Apparently no one is bothered about it outside of me and the actors and writers
who’re on strike.
****
TRICKY
My name’s Drufus (that’s a
whole ’nother story) Lane. Don’t worry. Everyone knows me as Dru, a recently
widowed, twenty-seven-year-old, former techie who hit it big. Sold a patent to
a Silicon Valley firm for a whopping sum plus royalties, which meant I no
longer slogged away my life at a desk answering to someone else’s cocked finger
or arched eyebrow.
My wife Marianne and I had
done anything and everything we wanted… except have children. We came up dry in
that department, despite spending copious amounts on tests and treatments. The
fault, apparently, lay with me, not her. Despite that giant vacuum in our life,
we had a reasonably good marriage. In fact, you might say we were on top of the
world.
That came to an abrupt and
tragic end two months ago when I stopped to fill up my Caddy Escalade at a self-service
gas station in a suburb of Los Angeles. While I was inside paying the bill and
picking up a couple of bottles of iced tea, a gunfight broke out between two rival
gangs that chanced to meet up at that station. With one car on either side of
my vehicle, many—make that most—of the shots ended up piercing my Caddy… and
taking my Marianne’s life.
After endless interviews with
the police, the district attorney’s office, medics, and the press, I found
myself totally lost and reached out to my best friend, a civil engineer named
Bill Ganderston who lived in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Bill’s firm had
posted him to Japan for a six-month stint, so I could only pour out my anguish
over the telephone. He offered to cut short his stay, but I refused to let him
make such a sacrifice. So I tried coping on my own, but that didn’t work out
well. Finally, my sister heard the desperation in my voice and insisted I join her and her husband in Albuquerque… at least for a brief period.
I had no intention of taking
up residence with Bonnie and Chuck—my younger sister and her husband—but they
were good for me in the interim. Their two children were of an age that I found
enchanting. The boy young enough to want to play horsey holding onto my
bouncing crossed leg, and the girl old enough to ask tactless but interesting
questions about her Uncle Dru.
I vividly recall the first
time I set eyes on Alene and Sam Drake, the next-door neighbors Bonnie spoke so
highly of. A couple of days after my arrival, she answered the doorbell and ushered
in a stunning brunette with a magnificent smile and intriguing green eyes.
“Oh, Alene,” Bonnie gushed,
“I’m so glad you could come over. I want you to meet my big brother. Dru, this
is my next-door neighbor, Alene Drake. She’s a grad student at the University about
to get her Masters in child philosophy or something like that. Alene… Dru.”
That sunburst smile brightened
even more as the vision reached out a hand. I took it and sensed the warmness
went beyond the mere human temperature.
“Please to meet you, Alene. Been
looking forward to it since you’re all Bonnie can talk about.”
Aleen colored slightly and
dimpled. “Heard a few things about you too… most of them complementary.”
“You know you can only believe
about fifty percent of what she says, don’t you?”
My brother-in-law Chuck
entered the room. “Where’s Sam? Isn’t he coming over?”
Alene moved past me toward the
living room. “He’s taking some brownies out of the oven. Said we all needed a
snack. He’ll be along in a minute.”
We took seats, and I gave this
enchanting creature a little more attention than I probably should have, given
her husband would pop through the door at any moment bearing sweets and good
cheer. That latter probably wouldn’t last long if my thoughts hung all over my
face.
Sure enough, the doorbell
rang, and Chuck answered, walking back into the room a moment later followed by
a young man who nearly knocked me loose from my sanity. I looked back and forth
between the newcomer and Alene. They weren’t husband and wife; they were twins.
Now my sister’s insistence that I meet Alene made more sense. She was already
match-making, even though my wife had only been gone something short of three
months.
I rose as Chuck introduced us.
Nothing more than “Dru, Sam. Sam, Dru.”
Sam’s handshake was every bit
as warm as his sister’s. “Heard a lot about you, Dru. Good to finally meet you.”
“Same. I got a little of
Alene’s background, but not yours.”
“Huh? Oh. I’m also at the U. Getting
my Masters in finance.” He lifted his hand, fingers a millimeter apart. “This
far from the Masters.” He moved the fingers farther apart. “Once I get past the
thesis.”
“In?” I asked.
“International finance.”
He was dark-haired, like his
sister, but his green eyes were more opal. By that, I mean, an iridescence to them
his sister’s lacked. In taking brother and sister in, each had what he or she
needed in the eye department. They were identical, exactly alike except Alene
was thoroughly and totally feminine, while Sam employed the same features in a completely
masculine way.
There was something I didn’t
tell you earlier. Remember, I characterized my marriage as “reasonably good.
Actually, it was good… except for a couple of times a year. Bill would come
down from San Francisco for a few days once or twice a year. And we… well, we
got together, just as we had on occasion from way back in our college years.
Don’t get me wrong. Sex with
Marianne was great. Fourth of July fireworks great. But Bill? Well, like a
special anniversary of the Fourth… like the 200th or some such. Can’t tell you
why. That’s just the way it was. No one suspected a thing… except for Marianne.
I don’t know how she knew, but she always regarded Bill as a threat. She’d have
nothing to do with him and resented the time I devoted to his visits. But there
it was. I got something from each of them. Something precious. If I’d had to
choose between them, I honestly don’t know what I’d have done.
And now, sitting in my
sister’s living room, looking back and forth from twin to twin, I sensed a
situation arising. Didn’t know exactly what it’d be yet. But I knew one thing
for sure. Unless I headed back to California, things would turn tricky.
****
Sounds to me
like Dru’s reached a mid-life crisis at the ripe old age of twenty-seven. Have
you ever experienced such a powerful impact upon a first meeting? I have, and
found myself confused.
Stay safe and stay strong.
Now my
mantra: Keep on reading and keep on writing. You have something to say… so
say it!
A link
to The Cutie-Pie Murders:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ambxgy7e5ndmimk/CutiePieMurders%5BThe%5D.zip?dl=0
My
personal links:
Email: don.travis@aol.com.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/donald.travis.982
Twitter: @dontravis3
See you next Thursday.
Don
New Posts every Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. US Mountain time.
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