Title: The Hero
Series: Fone-Stories™ #3
Author: Mike Kearby
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Publisher: Self
Format: Ebook
Words: 2500
Purchase: Amazon
Book Description:
John Simpson Despises Change, But on the Thursday Before Christmas, His Whole World Is About To Do Just That.
Excerpt:
There was only one truth in life that John Simpson embraced completely and faithfully. It was an absolute that his thirty-one years on the planet had verified repeatedly without condition or limitation:
Change is never good.
John despised the notion of transformation. For John, change, and all of its trappings, existed only to be detested and treated with contempt.
He would have none of it.
Ever.
And then on a snowy Thursday night before Christmas, John’s refusal to abandon past practices became the very catalyst that caused him to lose the essence of that particular way.
At 10:00 p.m. on that night, John discovered, to his great horror, that the adhesive backing on the plastic hook used to hold his stocking securely to the fireplace mantle had deteriorated to the point where it no longer adhered. The revelation induced a great anxiousness.
He searched through the kitchen drawer, which was specifically put into service to house duct tape, paper clips, and Scotch 3M Command Hooks™. But on this Thursday night, and to John’s great dismay, there were only the paper clips and the duct tape.
Refusing to consider any alternative, change if you will, John threw on his parka, rushed to his car, and headed for a 24-hour grocery located exactly one mile road from his house.
His condition would suffer nothing less.
Driving the speed limit, John covered the one mile distance in exactly one minute. He parked, as he always did, next to one of the cart returns. Although it was farther from the store’s front door, parking there was actually more efficient, saving him time when his shopping was completed. And even though John had come for a singular item, he would not deviate from his normal parking routine.
His condition demanded such.
Fifteen seconds later, he walked directly to aisle fourteen, where school supplies, mailing envelopes, and Scotch 3M Command Hooks™ could be found. He slipped a Two-Pak from the store hanger and exhaled a huge sigh of relief for command hooks in hand meant he had once more avoided alteration.
Thirty seconds after that, his anxiousness gone, John walked to the 10 Items or Less check-out counter, paid the clerk with exact change, and then walked out of the store and straight into disorder and upheaval.
About the Author:
From Wikipedia: Mike Kearby (born 1952) is an award-winning American novelist and inventor. Since 2005, Kearby has published ten novels, one graphic novel, and written two screenplays: (2011) Boston Nightly, with fellow writer Paul Bright and (2012) The Devouring. Boston Nightly is scheduled for filming in Dallas in the spring of 2013.
Website | Vampyre Chronicles | Twitter: @mike_kearby |
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