Month: November 2018
Review of Audible Service & The Three J’Amigos Trilogy (JADE, JANE and JILL) by Rose Montague
Recently, I upgraded my Kindle Paperwhite. The latest one has twice the memory and is waterproof (within reason, anyway). It also supports Audible audiobooks, which is rapidly becoming huge in the publishing industry, with many Indies and small publishers joining the major publishers with titles in release. So, I decided to give this new thing a test drive.
Audible is an Amazon company, but you don’t need a Kindle device to enjoy the audiobooks. If you have a smartphone (who doesn’t these days?) you can download the Audible App for Apple or Android and play the book through your Bluetooth speakers, headphones, earbuds or vehicle (if so equipped). There are some special trial deals going on for little or nothing. Once you see how much it frees you up, while still satisfying your lit needs you’ll want to sign up for it. You get one free download per month and discounts on other purchases throughout the period. What I have discovered is that I can listen to an average length book in a day or so, while doing menial things like laundry, cleaning the house, riding my bike, taking a walk, just about anything.
Author Rose Montague has been an early adopter of the audiobook format for her action-packed YA/NA books. Previously, I’ve read two of The Three J’Amigos Trilogy, as well as both of her other, spin-off books, which take place in the same universe but feature some other characters that have supporting roles in the trilogy. It was just with all the requests for reviews from others I hadn’t gotten around to reading JILL, which was published within the past year or so. But it was coming up on my “to-be- read” list.
All three audiobooks are narrated by Caryn Kuhlman, who does a fine job. It is essential for continuity between books of the same series to have the same narrator, I believe. Kuhlman varies her voice to make each character distinct, which helps a lot from a listener’s standpoint. For example, Jane in the series is “London Jane” and, yes, she has a British accent.
The one thing I will say that is a difference between listening to an audiobook and reading the eBook or print formats is that if you have read the print or eBook previously, it takes a bit to adjust to the narrator’s voice as opposed to your internal, reading voice. The characters are not going to sound the same as you have previously imagined. But you get used to that in relatively short order.
As for the story – I recommend taking the time to binge read or listen to this series. If you enjoy YA books featuring Supernatural beings (Supes), like Vampires, Shape-Shifters, Witches and Faeries, this is a series you’ll love. It offers a mind-expanding journey into the imagination of the author who is a great, natural storyteller. Her books’ pacing is quick.
Her characters are diverse. Jade is a Supernatural mutt, having the attributes of just about every supernatural being. Jane is a Vampire (Vamp) and a member of her community’s royalty. Jill is the Faeire Winter Queen who interacts with the human world on occasion. The female lead characters are strong, independent, sometimes snarky, sword-wielding, dagger-jabbing, (or steel-bat-swinging) badasses who you’ll be rooting for straight out of the gate. Oh, yes, there is a dragon in the mix as well. As J.R.R. Tolkien informed us, every good fantasy needs a dragon. There is plenty of action, excitement, and globe-trotting along the way, with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat guessing what will happen next. Rose’s books are a thrill ride waiting for you to jump in and claw at anything available while you hang on for dear life.
Following this first exposure to Audible, I’ve decided I much prefer listening to the three books in sequence. While waiting for JANE to be written (after having read JADE) I had forgotten some of the story and had to go back into the first book of the series and catch up a bit. I am certain I would have needed to do the same with Jane before reading Jill. However, listening to the books proved to be the best way to revisit the story in preparation for JILL. The trilogy comes to a satisfying, fitting conclusion that also directs the reader to the author’s other series which features Jewel, a budding teenage badass in her own right. Having read both available books of that series I can say that I can’t wait for the audiobooks and also look forward to the next book in that series.
The Resurrection: Chapter 30 – Never Except For Always
**Note: Although the following is part of a previously self-published eBook, portions have been modified. However, it has not been professionally edited and likely contains typos and other errors. It is offered as an example of raw science fiction storytelling.**
By the time the local sun disappeared behind the skyline of Haven, one of the two moons was already visible just cresting the eastern horizon. Paul stared at the large beach combing machines the Sakum’malien drivers staged at the edge of the dunes awaiting the departure of all the human sun worshipers. Perhaps they wondered at the odd human behavior, but they said little if anything to anyone – even those who spoke some words of English.
The odd feeling of having forgotten something returned, taunting him with information he could not grasp to recall. Again, he sensed a presence but there was no one immediately around except for Chase, Julie and Clare.
“Come on,” Clare prompted. Paul turned and hurried along as the four of them were among the last to leave the beach and rinse off in the beach house before getting dressed into more proper attire for dealing with the big city life.
Julie and Clare hugged one another and said their goodbyes as Chase and Paul retrieved their coaches from the docking station. When they arrived queued behind one another, Julie hugged Paul and Clare hugged Chase. They two men shook hands. It was a nice late afternoon get together they shared.
Chase was always traveling, mainly between his company’s office in Andromeda and Haven where he worked. Paul worked from dawn to dusk daily, sometimes even going in to work for a few hours on weekends just to catch up. He sometimes worked every single day within a month just to finish a project.
Clare climbed into the floater coach and Paul entered after her, settling in at the controls of the console. He waited for Chase and Julie to get settled and pull away from the boarding curb before he pulled out of the parking area and onto the street. “You aren’t in any trouble leaving work early?” Clare asked.
Paul shrugged, “What if I am? I’ve been working there for five years. I receive minimal raises in reward for always finishing my work on time or ahead of schedule and being at work at least on time but usually early and always staying late when necessary.”
“You don’t want to lose your job.”
“Of course not but I don’t think they even know I exist. No one knows who I am but if I was missing for a while they might finally appreciate what ol’-what’s-his-name takes care of for them.”
“Maybe others would take up the slack and they’d never notice.”
Paul nodded. “Yeah, well that puts the onus back onto me, now, doesn’t it?”
After a long pause Clare cleared her throat, “What was it Chase and you went off to yourselves to discuss?”
“Were you and Julie jealous of phantoms and some imagined competition?”
Clare forced a smile but her eyes did not leave his.
“Chase knows a guy he met a while back named Pete. When I was out in New Milan with Chase last fall we both met him and I beat him at shooting pool.”
“He must be awful at it, then.”
“Thanks a lot!” Paul exclaimed even as he shook his head in disbelief.
“I’m, just being honest, hon,” she said. “My baby brother beat you when we went to visit my folks last year.”
“Yeah, that little scoundrel’s a hustler, though,” Paul countered, after receiving a wave of impressions and perceptions the memories cascaded into his mind, filling in many missing pieces of an established past that stretched back well before he stepped out of the ocean water onto the beach.
Everything was there, meeting Pete in New Milan, accompanying Chase to Andromeda on a detour while on their way home. Chase signed a band and then they returned to Haven. Paul never told Clare he and Chase detoured through Andromeda. It took them three extra travel days but Clare always believed he stayed in New Milan for an extra meeting. It wasn’t like they did anything wrong, but it was just he never bothered to tell her where all they went.
As Paul pulled the coach up to the curb of their apartment building, he pressed the button commanding the door to open and as soon as the coach stopped, Clare stepped out onto the curb and waited for Paul to do the same and dock the coach before he joined her. They both entered the building and stood in the lobby waiting for the elevator car to arrive.
“So, that was the big secret Chase had to talk to you about, this guy Pete?”
“Yeah, it was part of it. Pete’s in a band and they’re looking for a female lead singer.”
“So, of course he thought of Cristina.”
“Yep.” The elevator arrived and they both boarded. Paul pressed the button for their floor.
“I could see her doing it.”
“I could too,” Paul said. “I was waiting about calling her, seeing if she’d call first. I guess I have an excuse, now.”
“You miss Cristina, don’t you?”
“I do,” Paul confessed. Even though he felt as if he had been with her recently.
“It’s been a year a least since she left for school.”
“Closer to two years,” Paul said as he tried to pin down an exact time or event associated with it. “I mean we talk by phone or even exchange messages over the global network but we’ve not been together for a long time. The conversations we’ve had were mostly about her acting and how successful I am. I don’t know where she gets it from but somehow she thinks I’m successful.”
“Aren’t you?” The elevator arrived at their floor and they stepped out. Their apartment was just down the hall, the third door on the right.
“Maybe on a comparative basis. I have steady income. She doesn’t. That’s not how I would define success, though.”
“The material element is a consideration.” She arrived at the door two or three steps ahead of Paul, keyed in her security code and leaned against the door as it unlocked and opened. She held the door open for him as he arrived.
“I suppose what I make is a lot or most people.”
“Well, I think you’re successful.”
“I’m happy – not with work but the rest of my life’s great.” He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her neck.
“I love you unconditionally.” She reached up with both hands and grabbed his head, then turning she releases and kissed him passionately.
“I don’t know what I would do without you,” Paul said as their lips parted. “It’s just I’m not quite what I wanted to be and whenever Cristina sends me a message it reminds me because she’s the one who’s still faithful to her dream. I guess it makes me feel like I’ve given up and maybe sold myself short, just accepting what I can get paid to do.”
“Cristina reminds you of whatever it is that you perceive as your failures. But you’re successful at what you do.”
“I know. I know exactly what you’re going to say. I’m far from being a failure but failure lurks just past the next decision at my company. I’ve never felt like I have any sort of job security. Backstabbing assholes and highly political opportunists surround me. I have a knot in the pit of my stomach every day when I go into the office. I feel like they’re going to fire me, not just threaten it, but follow through with it. I’m not sure that enduring all of that is worth the pay credits.”
“You just take things way too seriously.”
“Maybe that’s part of it, but most of it is I work for self-serving pricks.”
“Everything in life is about perspective,” Clare said.
“And I lack perspective – is that what you’re saying?”
“I was going to say maybe Cristina is more mature than you are. You always say she handles rejection well. Yet you cannot seem to define your success. You have a good paying job. Some people would call it a dream position.”
“My job is anything but a dream position,” Paul said, flipping around a dining room chair backwards and sitting with his chest resting against the chair back.
“Nothing is easy, Paul. Is there any job anywhere that will pay you what you think your time is worth?”
Paul smiled. “Of course not. With the difficulty of the job comes the compensation.”
“Not always commensurate to the demands of the job…”
“But high enough that some damned fool, like me will attempt the job because it pays better than the last three things I tried.”
“Exactly,” she said. “So what do you want for dinner.”
“Let’s shower and get fixed-up and go out for dinner and some dancing.”
“Really? What’s gotten into you tonight? The beach didn’t wear you out?”
“Yeah a little, but I want to make it a memorable day for you.”
“It already is. “
“Then let’s work on the night part of it.”
“Okay,” she smiled broadly.
“I really need to take a proper shower and put on some lotion,” she said. “I’m sure you do too, you always burn so easily.”
“I wore enough sunscreen I think. I’ll call for reservations. Where do you want to east?”
“Surprise me,” Clare said as she headed toward the bathroom.
“I’m not sure you really want me to do that,” he called out after her.
“It’ll be fine,” she called back.
“Okay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Paul said as he flicked on world viewer and brought up the index for local restaurants. “I think it’s always a good night for Italian.” He said to himself.
After calling for reservations, Paul began watching the news. By the time he heard her shower end he was ready and waiting to take his turn, tired of the dryness on his skin and the overall smell of fish.
When she emerged from the bathroom Clare headed to the bedroom to apply her makeup and get dressed. Paul showered quickly and joined her in the bedroom where he dressed accordingly, in casual attire appropriate for the restaurant to which they were going.
“Are we in a rush?” she asked while putting on her eyeliner.
“No, I made the reservations for eight thirty. Take your time.
“This is a nice surprise. Usually you take the easy way out.”
“What does that mean?’
“‘I’m tired – lets eat in and go to bed early’.”
“I’m a guy. I always seek the path of least resistance whenever possible. Sit down a relax a bit.”
“You are the one who was stressed out.”
“It’s a normal state of being for me. I’ll prevail.”
“I hope so.”
Paul joined her on the couch. “You look pretty.”
“Thank you. You look handsome.”
“We match well, then.”
She laughed. “Whatever’s different about you, keep it going, okay?”
As the news on world viewer played in the background, they shared light conversation about other things that had happened throughout the day, mainly the morning events in Clare’s life at her dance studio. She was grateful when Julie called her suggesting they take the afternoon off and head for the beach.
Clare looked at her wristband. “We probably should be going.”
Paul smiled, starting to get up a few seconds before his cell phone ringer flashed on his wrist. He tapped his earlobe, “Hello.”
“Hey, it’s me,” his sister’s voice was welcome.
“I was going to call you. What’s the news?” He tapped his right wrist to display her holographic image in the palm of his outstretched hand so that at least Clare knew whom he was talking to.
“I didn’t get the part.”
“When you didn’t call, I was worried it was something like that.”
“They wouldn’t tell me until yesterday. I went out with friends and got drunk after I found out. I’ve been sleeping it off all day.”
“Are you okay now?” He asked then allayed Clare’s concern with a nod and a wink.
“Except I want to come home and I have no money. I mean, I really am embarrassed having to ask you, but…”
“I’ll get you home if that is what you want. How much do you need?”
“I don’t even know,” she said. “I have really tried to make it on my own. I even took a job waiting tables.”
“I think Chase might have something to interest you.”
“Really, I thought he did musical groups, not actors.”
“I think you need to broaden your horizons a little, sis.”
“Well, I’m an actress.”
“You have an amazing voice. You should be singing.”
“I’ve been auditioning for musicals, Paul.”
“You’re not getting the traction you need. For whatever reason, they’re passing you over, but everyone who knows you says you have a wonderful singing voice. So, let it become your vehicle.”
“I’m trying to do just that.”
“You aren’t getting it. Listen to me, Cristina. You have to make it where you can, and then go on from there. Then you can do the other things you want to accomplish. Once you have established your credibility, you can do other things maybe something you can’t imagine right now.”
“Well, I guess if you pay my way home I should at least listen to your advice.”
Paul laughed. “If you think I’m full of shit, just tell me.”
“It’s not that.”
“I think I’m being pretty reasonable.”
“Some of what you say makes sense.”
“Cristina, honestly. I think everything will be fine for you, but you have to adapt. It’s a big, strange world.”
“Yeah strange is not the half of it. Lately, I’ve had some bizarre dreams.”
“Really?” Paul asked even as Clare reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek and then proceeded on toward the bedroom. “Hold on.”
“Okay,” Cristina said.
“Hon, retrieve the coach and I’ll be right down.”
“Last night could be explained away by all the alcohol. But even before that…the dreams are like the world had not been completely terraformed – like it was forty years ago, you know all the cities were still domed.”
Paul laughed.
“The strangest part, you were in a lot of trouble there,” she said. “You were in prison and trying to escape. It was very bizarre.”
“And what was it that you did in that world?”
“What do you mean what was I doing there? It was a dream, or more like a nightmare.”
“No, I mean what did you do for a living?”
“I don’t…remember…well, but no, I think…I think I was actually a singer.”
“See, in your dreams it’s your destiny. Take it as a sign.”
“Maybe it is, Paul. I don’t know. I’m tired of this craziness. And I want to see you and just sleep for a while.”
“Good you can rest up and when I go to New Milan next month you can come with me.”
“I’ll be back at school by then,” she protested.
“So you have spent almost two full years learning how to act and perform…”
“But I can’t land a role at an audition.”
“Sometimes, I think destiny forces your hand. Maybe you need to audition for a rock band in New Milan.”
“We’ll see.”
“Come home and make a fresh start, sis. Take a sabbatical from your studies. I have always thought you have the potential to be a star. All you need is to find the right path. Chase seems to think you’ll work out for this band in New Milan.”
“I don’t know…”
“The two guitarists are professional sound engineers so the audition will be at a real studio. Chase knew one of them, a drummer from another association. Chase sort of auditioned them. He said what they lack is a vocalist of your caliber.”
“He said that?”
“Maybe not in those exact words, but it was his idea to ask you to audition.”
“So, he’s the one who put you up to this?”
“Yeah, well, I worry about my baby sister, especially when she calls me to tell me she’s broke.”
“Okay, I hear you. I told you I’d give it a shot.”
“Go into this with a positive attitude. I have a very good feeling about this.”
“You know me. I’m always positive whenever I audition.”
“This can work for you.”
“In a strange way, I feel good about it, too,” she confessed.
“That’s the Cristina I know and love. Go to the station in the morning. I’ll arrange everything for the ticket from this end, okay?”
“I appreciate this a lot, Paul.”
“Hey, if I was in trouble I know you’d come to my aid.”
“Since Dad and Mom…well we only have each other.”
“I know. We have to be family first. “
“I’ll call if there is any change.”
“Okay, sis,” Paul said. “Have a safe trip.”
“See you day after tomorrow.”
He tapped his earlobe to disconnect the call. He went to the kitchen for a glass of water, fully intending to go straight downstairs. He hoped Clare was not pissed at having to wait. But when he passed through the dining room he felt the strange presence again, an eerie sensation as if he just passed through another consciousness, causing him to shiver as his skin erupted into gooseflesh.
“Who’s there?” He challenged.
With no answer, even the sensation of the presence was gone.
He continued, rapidly gulping down the water.
“Is anything wrong?” Clare stood in the doorway?”
“No, I was just coming. I’m still having odd feelings,” he said.
“Maybe you need to rest. We can go out some other time.”
“No, I need to spend all the time I can with you.” He felt the presence again – behind him, but saw nothing.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah.” He nodded.
He opened the closet door on his way out the door to grab a light jacket. After slipping it on he stepped out into the hallway to join Clare. “I hope I don’t get a ticket. I’m parked in the loading zone.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. So, Cristina is coming home?”
“Yeah. I have to get her a ticket.”
Clare nodded as they arrived at the elevator.
“She’ll be here at least a month. Then she’s going out to New Milan.”
“With Chase and you?”
“Or just Chase. I haven’t decided to go.”
The elevator doors opened. They stepped inside. He pressed the button for the lobby. Then as mostly a reflex he plunged his hands into the jacket pockets, his right one wrapped around a small orb. Withdrawing his hand he looked at it resting in his palm.
“What’s that?”
“Something I thought I lost.” He closed his fist around it, the opening his hand palm up it disappeared.
“That’s from the magic act you used to do?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Maybe that was the last time I wore this jacket.”
“You need to check your pockets before you hang things up.” She wrapped her arm around his elbow.
“I know, hon. Sometimes I forget,” Paul admitted.
“So, where are we heading?”
“I thought you wanted me to surprise you.”
“I said that, didn’t I?”
“Having second thoughts?”
“No, it’ll be fine. I’m sure,” Clare said.
The End
The Resurrection: Chapter 29 – Nature’s Resettling
**Note: Although the following is part of a previously self-published eBook, portions have been modified. However, it has not been professionally edited and likely contains typos and other errors. It is offered as an example of raw science fiction storytelling.**
There was general wrongness Paul felt in their departure from the past. First he lost their images and then the touch of their hands. He did not want to be right about paradoxes but immediately believed he was.
Isolated in a void he decided was non-existence, dread overwhelmed him, engulfing his presence and consumed his essence. His soul served from his physical form, just reward or punishment for meddling with past events upon which existence depends. Lingering consciousness stretched across limbo and connected at both ends of infinity, he was a singularity – a tiny, insignificant point between the vast and the infinitesimal. He was his beginning that concluded in the same thought of being, life evaporated into the wisps of unrealized probability.
There was no pain, no sensation at all except for separation. If there were a floor where he could have collapsed he would have. However, it was impossible for him to discern real from surreal as he lost consciousness, giving up in the process as he yielded to the oblivion he fully anticipated, a place he decided might be called Never.
Shocked, and suddenly immersed in cool salt water he flailed arms and kicked legs in panic, going over in his mind the principles of swimming – when had he learned them? Struggling to reach the surface, the light from above and beyond the brilliant blue, cloudless sky. He broke through to the sudden sensation of wind in his face. He gasped. It was his first gulp of air that led to immediate panic – an errant thought of the risk. But then he wondered why he would ever think such a thing. How could breathing air be dangerous?
As he tread water, he opened his eyes, but it felt as if it were for the very first time. Looking toward the shore he recognized everything, the thought of strangeness rapidly evaporated under the gross volume of intense memories that foundered his mind and almost instantly reestablished identity, role, purpose and obligations.
He swam a ways coming up closer to the breakers. His toes touched the sandy bottom there. He stood for a moment, allowing the waves to crash around him. Then he walked through the surf onto the shore.
Disoriented but remembering everything about him it was troubling that he had no memory of how he arrived at the beach.
Ahead of him was a white sand dune with some vegetation growing to cover some of its surface. It was likely an attempt to resist beach erosion. It was a problem, wasn’t it? He recalled hearing something about it, the balance between protecting beaches and property along the coast from storm surges while accommodating the public’s desire to enjoy their time in recreational pursuits.
Continuing his confusion he pivoted, trying to reconnect with disassociated memories. He saw the community beach house, recalled emerging from there sometime earlier. Remembered having showered before dressing in his swimming trunks and applying sunscreen to his overly sensitive, exposed, lily-white skin. Over his shoulders he draped a towel as he walked out to the beach. Locating the same towel he picked up from the hard pack directly in front of him. He dried off as best he could and left his hair damp.
The beating rays of mid summer warmed his shoulders as his back was turned toward the ocean. He wrapped the towel around the back of his neck in an effort to protect from the intensity of the local yellow dwarf’s radiation.
Automatically he replaced the protective UV lenses over his eyes, the ones he found on a lanyard along with his towel. The ocean breeze swept over the dampness of his skin and trunks as he tentatively progressed back toward the beach house.
A flash of memory came of being at the office having another rough day. Clare called him and told him she was going to the beach with Chase and Julie. She invited him to join them whenever he got off work. He even slipped out a little early just so he could swing by the apartment to collect his swimming trunks, sunscreen and a couple of extra towels.
Going to the beach was a fantastic idea. He really needed to unwind. It was just he felt strange, like until a few minutes ago he might have been dreaming. It wasn’t a new sensation for him, but it always left him feeling unsettled.
There were some images of a nightmarish set of circumstances worse than anything he endured at work. His imagination was vivid. It helped him in his work, coming up with warped story lines for video games to be played over world viewer. At times it was almost like he had two sets of memories, one his real life and another the fantasy worlds he fabricated in a digital universe.
Framed with that consideration, one set rapidly dissipated to the point that he wondered why he was even trying to recall anything about any of it. It wasn’t like it belonged to any project he was currently working on. Still, at the moment even the more plausible set of memories did not feel real enough for him to grasp and call it his own.
He looked past the beach house to the evidence of the thriving community back on the mainland. A causeway was the way back there from the beach. A high arching bridge spanned the navigable channel in the river of brackish water between the mainland and the barrier island where the beach was located. It did not look right to him but then he wondered how it should look. The towering skyscrapers of a second largest city on the planet sprawled out to either side of the bridge along the mainland shore. It was exactly what he expected to see but, in another way, it seemed strange.
Paul turned back into the sea breeze to drink in another deep, refreshing breath hoping somehow it would magically clear the confusion from his mind. Maybe he had been working too hard. He could be having some sort of breakdown that caused everything to feel surreal.
Seagulls hovered overhead, suspending their mass by the lift they maintained from the steady sea breeze that flowing over their carefully positioned wings. He always envied bird their ability to fly.
He felt a presence nearby but turning around, he saw no one. Still there was a definite presence but then just as suddenly as the sensation came it was gone.
Paul continued on along the beach. Clare stood up when she saw his approach, and then bounded over the white sand, seeming to barely even touch the surface as she proceeded toward him. At the moment of her arrival she launched herself, leaping toward him then wrapping her arms around his neck as he caught her slight weight in his arms. He swung her around as he spun to keep from falling. She offered and he accepted passionate kisses in welcome greeting.
“I missed you all day long,” she said as she pulled back from his lips leaving him almost breathless. Then he leaned toward her and kissed the tip of her nose. She giggled giddily like a schoolgirl as he continued to hold her close, staring into her gorgeous green eyes.
To him she was the epitome of the perfect woman, perfect for him in every way. What did he care if the events around him were still swirling a little and his mind was dizzily unsettled? As long as he was with Clare everything else could seem tentative. He did not care if in an instant the world might change completely. Then he realized how silly it was to have such a thought. Was tentative not how the present moment should feel?
He liked the liberating power of his newfound confidence, feeling as if he could make decisions that mattered. Clare provided him with the strength to endure anything while he sought his creative potential. She believed in him and, in turn, he believed in her.
Smiling across the short distance for the interval her response took, kissing him on the cheek he decided to just allow the flow of events to take him wherever they would for at least the remainder of the day.
“You couldn’t wait to jump in the water?” She challenged as she realized his towel and trunks were damp.
“It was kinda hot when I arrived.” He responded in a way that was hard to argue. It had to still be in the upper thirties, Celsius.
“I already brought towels enough for both of us, silly man!” She playfully punched him in the arm as he returned her to her feet.
“You can never have enough towels, especially at the beach,” Paul replied.
She shrugged, but as she led him down from the dune and closer to the hard pack where she and the others had been sitting and talking while they awaited for his arrival.
Paul knew Chase but he did not recognize Julie at first, even though he knew her name and was certain that talked many times before. The disorientation lingered, nagging at him. Sure, he knew her for even longer than he knew Clare. Julie introduced the two of them! She arranged for the only blind date he ever consented to in his life – based solely on her recommendation. Amazed it worked out so well, Clare was just as Julie promised, perfect for him.
“So, Paul, are you and Clare coming over tomorrow?” Julie asked even before Paul had a chance to shake her hand or Chase’s for that matter.
“It depends,” he replied. It was a safe, noncommittal answer to something he knew nothing about, yet.
“Well, tell those assholes you work for that it is your niece’s birthday party!” Clare said with a laugh, causing everyone to laugh as well. Julie was sitting on a towel between Chase and where Clare resumed sitting to take a swig from a bottle of cold water she opened only a few moments before she noticed Paul down the beach from them.
As Paul sat down he looked out at the undulating surface of the ocean. The steady sea breeze whipped across the tops of the two to four meter swells. White caps crashed into the shore with enough force that even from where they were sitting he felt the refreshing chill of the spray. Some kids were attempting to ride short boards closer in to shore while a couple of hardcore surfers were lingering out a ways offshore warming up while really waiting for the evening’s double-moon effect to prevail. It was the time of the season when, toward the evening, the gravity of each of Pravda’s two moons amplified the other’s effects while the two celestial orbs were virtually aligned. It produced some serious waves that sometimes even rivaled the ones that preceded an approaching seaborne storm.
Chase leaned back, reaching for the ice chest, saying something about being thirsty. Then he sat back up and glanced over at Paul as he was sitting on the far side of Clare. “Are you feeling okay, dude?”
“Yeah, I’m fine?”
“You’re not thirsty?”
“Not particularly.”
“There’s plenty of water on ice. So when you need one, help yourself.”
“Thanks,” Paul said.
“So, is Cristina still in Emerald or is she on her way back home to enjoy her break?” Julie asked.
“She called me a few days ago,” Paul said, having immediately recalled a phone conversation with his sister. “She had an audition two days ago. She said if she got the part she’d be staying in Emerald for the summer. I sort of expected her to call me by now and really thought she would, especially if she got the role in the musical. But I have not heard from her. So, I’m concerned she didn’t get the part.”
“I hope she’s not discouraged.”
“She’s tough – a true artist. She handles rejection well,” Paul said proudly, but then he dealt with something strange and alternative. He experienced a momentary flash of her singing on stage before thousands of frenzied fans, fronting a rock band of all things. It amused him. “I don’t think anyone has given her a chance to demonstrate her fullest potential.”
“Obviously,” Julie said. “Her voice is simply amazing. I keep telling Chase to hook her up with a talent agency at least. I mean, with her voice she could take a so-so pop band right to the top.”
“Or a rock band of great musicians to legendary status,” Chase said as he stood up and stretched. “It’s not like I haven’t offered to help her. Paul has resisted giving her his opinion.”
“It isn’t that as much as she’s headstrong.” Paul confirmed even as several examples came immediately to mind in support.
Chase walked around the two ladies and nudging Paul with his foot as he passed by. “Follow me. You and I need to talk,” he said as he turned back and looked toward Julie and then Clare who both wanted to know why the boys were going off on their own. “It’s a guy thing,” Chase excused.
“As long as it doesn’t involve other women,” Julie warned.
“It involves business and Cristina. Is that okay?”
Julie smiled. “I’ll let that one slide, I guess, since my best friend is engaged to her brother and all.”
When Paul and Chase arrived at a place Chase figured was beyond earshot of the ladies, he sat down on a bench and waited for Paul to join him. “You are just as headstrong in your way as Cristina. You think you know everything?”
“I doubt what I know is even remotely close to everything, so maybe your assessment needs revision.”
Chase chuckled for a few moments, but then he stared into Paul’s eyes. “You are going to continue pretending?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re good. I’ll give you that. No one plays dumb like you can.”
“Maybe it’s because usually I’m don’t need to play.”
“I was in New Milan two weeks ago.”
“I think Clare mentioned that.” He guessed.
“Do you remember Pete?”
“Pete?”
“Yeah, Pete, the percussionist I introduced you two at The Stable in New Milan.”
“When was that?”
“Last fall when you and I were there.”
Paul shrugged, struggling for the memory that felt vaguely accessible but not quite within his grasp.
“Damn it, Paul! You and Pete shot pool for over three hours after you met. You even beat him, rather badly at that. I offered to give him a ride home because he didn’t have bus fare after you finished taking his credits.”
“Okay.”
“Okay you remember or okay you don’t?”
“I remember some of it,” Paul confessed. “Look Chase, I have the world’s worst memory for people’s names.”
“You have to remember this. He kept hitting on the waitress, asking her out and she kept saying no to him, but he was relentless. He thought she was playing to get him to buy more drinks from her, but she was genuinely getting annoyed. That distraction was probably part of the reason why you beat him at shooting pool ‘ ‘cause you aren’t that good.”
“Hey!”
“Just tellin’ the truth. Anyway, as the club was closing she gave in to his offer to buy her dinner. You graciously transferred back the credits that he lost so he would not be financially embarrassed.”
“I’m a nice guy like that,” Paul offered.
“It was actually funny as hell. I can’t believe you don’t remember it.”
“Well, I sort of do and he still owes me the money,” Paul said as he recalled it was not a gift but a loan.
“Or there needs to be a rematch.”
“That would involve going back to New Milan.”
“Well, there is a convention coming up again, same as last year.”
“There you go.”
“It’s even better.”
“Why?” Paul inquired.
“I was thinking. We could get the same special rate as the last time we went together, discounts on the railcar as well as the hotel. Julie can arrange all of that for us.”
“Okay.”
“And maybe you could ask Cristina to come to New Milan and spend some time with you while you’re there. I mean it’s only three hours by railcar from Emerald.”
“I don’t know about that, Chase. She’s kinda on break right now, but by then she’ll be pretty busy with college again.”
“Well I was thinking that while she’s there she could audition for Pete’s band. They aren’t really new just they got back together. They were a band when they were all still in junior high. Pete and Alix, the bassist, share an apartment. Keith and Tim, the guitarists are also sound engineers at a recording studio, which makes getting a place to do demos and have auditions really pretty easy. I mean, I sort of contacted Pete already about auditioning her.”
“I’m not sure she would want to do that.”
“Well, ask her. The guys are great musicians, but frankly, no one in the band sings well enough and they know it. They are looking for a lead singer and really prefer the vocal range of a female.”
“And you immediately thought of Cristina.”
“Honestly, Paul I’ve sent several female vocalists their way, but no one clicked for them. Their voices were good, just they didn’t have the personality the band needs.”
“You think Cristina has what the others lack?”
“I do.”
“She wants to do musicals, Chase. That’s what she’s been studying.”
“Well, it was just an idea. But really what I was thinking was no one I know doesn’t like Cristina.”
“She’s a charmer.” Paul allowed. “I don’t know if she likes that sort of music. She’s classically trained. Dad and Mom paid for her lessons from the time she was able to talk.”
“The band doesn’t play the usual fare, not at all. Their style’s unique. I don’t know your sister’s tastes in music, but maybe she would actually like their sound.”
“I’ll mention it to her. I’ll let her decide. That’s all I can do, Chase.”
Chase turned back toward the ladies, listening from the distance to see if he could eavesdrop on their girl-to-girl conversation. Paul looked out at the ocean waves trying to fill in the remaining gaps of his memory. He still felt there were important things he’d forgotten.
“I guess it’s all gone,” Paul said.
“What?” Chase asked as he glanced at Paul.
“Never mind.”
“No, really what, I didn’t catch what you said.”
“Have you ever had a dream, and when you wake up, you think it was a really important dream? You want to remember it, but it’s gone.”
“Yeah, that happens. It happens a lot, actually.”
“It’s like you’re certain you are going to remember it, but then regardless of your intentions, you forget what was so great about it. Or why you wanted to remember it in the first place.”
“Yeah and trying to write it down doesn’t work all that well either.”
“Exactly.”
“You had a dream recently that you wanted to remember?”
“I’m not sure what it is, Chase. Ever since I got here I have felt really strange, like I had something important to do but I can’t remember what it was. It’s almost like I have forgotten everything I knew, but then, I remember other things. It’s just not complete.”
“Like you forgot about shooting pool against Pete.”
“Yes, things like that.”
“Maybe you hit your head or you had heat stroke.”
“I don’t know,” Paul said.
“Maybe you’re getting old.”
“Chase, I’m three months younger than you.”
“Well, then I need to watch out, too.” Chase corralled his shoulders. “Come on, you’ll snap out of it. We need to get back to our women before they conspire to make us go shopping with them on the way home.”
Paul smiled as he continued along beside him.
The One & Only Elgon 