Today, this very day, I finalized the final draft of my new novel Stella Maris. This book is the sequel to my last novel What the Hell Ever Happened to Yuri Rozhenko?
My mother Virginia Vernon was the one who taught me to read, who made me the best reader in first grade by a country mile, and who instilled in me a love of reading and writing, and the one who had me reading James Thurber at five years old. She not only read all of my five previous novels, she even edited some of them.
I was anxious to have her read this book, only that will never happen. Only a few hours after I finalized the final draft of Stella Maris, my step father called to inform me that my mother had died suddenly and unexpectedly, that very morning.
There were no warning signs, no obvious illness, no indication that her physical heath was in jeopardy. I honestly thought her and I had a lot more time.
So here is another excerpt. I’ve already posted a few excerpts of this work, and will be posting more. This book will come out in the next week or two. In the meantime, here is just part of something I dearly wanted my mother to read. You can read it for her.
Skye’s phone buzzed. It was a text from Lori.
“How the hell do I get into your place?”
“Hold on,” texted Skye. “I’ll come down.”
Skye came down and unlocked the various gates. Lori slowly walked up the steps with her grocery bags.
Inside Skye’s place, Lori put her grocery bags down on the kitchen counter. She turned and embraced Skye.
“Damn girl, it’s great to see you again you fuckin’ old burnout!” said Lori as she let go of Skye.
“Hey, I ain’t old!
“You’re almost thirty.”
“How the fuck do you remember my birthday?”
“It’s still etched on the one brain cell I didn’t burn out,” said Lori as she tapped the side of her head with her index finger,
Lori looked around Skye’s place. The front room served as a small living and dining room with a small kitchen table, a desk, and an easy chair that stood guard over a row of milk crates full of records. At the end of the record-milk crates row stood a tall bookcase crammed with books. A doorway to the left led to Skye’s bedroom. The small kitchen was separated by a tiled divider. The kitchen had an old stove and a very old refrigerator which appeared to be in good working condition, despite their advanced age.
Skye had random pieces of artwork and show flyers around the living room. There was also one prominent club bill advertising a Neurosis show.
Lori looked as if she had gained some weight, which would not be a hard feat for her. She had always been slim yet sinewy.
She had finally braided her wild hair that had, back in their club days, exploded from her head due to neglect, running days of drug abuse, and far too much Aqua Net Extra Super Hold. She was still wearing band shirts and black jeans, having shown up in a black Adolescents shirt.
“Wow, this is a pretty nice place,” said Lori as she looked around.
“Ain’t it though? I owe it all to Chelsea. She handed it over to me when she moved back to Idaho.”
“You live here by yourself?”
“Yep. First time in my life I’ve ever lived alone.”
“Nice, huh?” said Lori as she started looking through Skye’s bookshelf.
“Yeah, I guess. The thing is I’ve always lived with other people, like family or tons of roommates. It’s not bad, but it’s also kinda weird.”
“Not enough chaos?” asked Lori as she went to the kitchen counter and started unloading her grocery bags.
“I’m tryin’ to get away from chaos,” said Skye as she went to the fridge and brought out a couple of beers.
Lori looked over at the stove as Skye handed her a bottle of Moosehead. “Does this thing still work?”
“Oh yeah. The stove and the fridge work just fine, even though they’re old.”
“Sounds like us,” smiled Lori.
“Har har.”
“Okay. Time to make chili!”
“Yes! How long is this chili gonna take to make?”
“Not long. I already cooked the beans. That’s the part that takes the longest. There’s a cat in your doorway.”
Skye looked over her shoulder. It was Danny Boy, sitting in her doorway, looking around her living room.
“That’s Danny Boy,” said Skye.
“What? You’re kidding.”
Danny Boy walked into the kitchen and walked up to Lori. He poked his nose up at Lori. Lori knelt down and stroked his back. He let out an approving meow and started purring.
“My neighbor’s cat,” said Skye.
“They just barge into your apartment?”
“Three of them do. She’s got a big orange tabby that won’t come anywhere near me. And she also has a little white cat that hates everyone except my neighbor Jolene.”
“Ooh! I bet I can make friends with the big orange guy.”
“He’s usually by the potted plants, over by her door.”
Lori cautiously crept out of Skye’s door, tip toeing on the landing.
Skye heard Jolene’s voice through her open door. “Hello.”
“I’m looking for a large orange cat,” said Lori. Skye could only hear her through the open doorway. “Skye says he doesn’t like her.”
“That’s Tigger. He can be strange at times.”
Skye struggled her large cooking pot out of the lower cupboard and searched for other kitchen utensils as she heard Lori and Jolene talking outside.
Skye finally walked out onto the landing.
“No way!” exclaimed Skye.
Lori was kneeling down, gently petting a reluctant looking Tigger.
“That cat has it out for me,” said Skye.
“Lori is just more zen, I think,” said Jolene.
Skye took a step towards Jolene’s place. Tigger started to shrink into his corner while glaring at Skye.
“Come on Tigger,” said Jolene. “Skye’s a nice lady.”
Lori looked at Skye. “Oh man, someone just called you a lady.”
Skye felt something rub up against her leg. She looked down and saw one of Jolene’s cats.
“See Tigger?” said Jolene. “Danny Boy likes Skye.”
Lori looked up. “Nice name. Me and Skye once had a… friend named Danny Boy.”
“Drug dealer,” said Skye.
“What? A pot dealer?” asked Jolene.
“Naw. Something a lot stronger,” said Skye. Skye looked at Lori. “Don’t worry. Jolene’s down with the street.”
“I was gettin’ into that kinda trouble before you gals were born,” said Jolene. “You think you invented it?”
“Most of the cats seem to like Skye,” said Lori as she started scratching Tigger’s cheeks. Tigger squeezed his eyes shut as he tilted his head.
“Skye has to check in on me, to make sure my cats are okay.”
“Why?” asked Lori, “You forget to feed them?”
“I’m an old lady. She has to make sure my cats are taken care of if I go in the middle of the night.”
“Jesus Jolene, you ain’t gonna die for years,” said Skye “Most of your cats will probably be gone by the time you check out.”
“Yeah Jolene, what the hell?” said Lori.
“I worry about my babies. I want to make sure they’re always all right.” Jolene looked at Lori. “I know that sounds odd.”
“No way. I felt the same way when I had pitties,” said Lori.
Jolene looked Lori up and down. “You dress just like Skye.”
“I do?”
“You’re both wearing black jeans and black boots and you both have black shirts.”
“It’s just the uniform of our tribe,” said Skye.
“Yeah, we don’t wanna lose our Gilman cards,” said Lori. “The punk police will take them away!”
My mother’s High School
Graduation pic.
My mother doing one of the things she loved,
running in foot races,
Even in her seventies and eighties.
Up until the end, she always
talked about how much she
wanted to run another race.
