Unfolding Pages

Chapter 21- Sandman

2008-11-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

Jay Sutherland, fanned his face with his hat, ‘damn it, this place is hot!’ he thought. He had arrived in tent city a few weeks ago; Jay had been promoted to the rank of sergeant after receiving a recommendation from Major. John Dickerson, a man whom Jay was sure had hated him from the day Jay had first arrived at his previous billing, but that was the way of the corps. Always has and always will

Chapter 20 - Tent City

2008-11-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

Part 2“Dear Mum and Dad,” was written at the top of a piece of standard issue letter writing paper, James Schmitt had written the words over thirty minutes ago. He lay on his stomach, on his cot, staring a hole through the paper that lay on his pillow. He had decided to write home and let his mother and his father know that everything was fine, but after writing the first line he realized, he

Chapter 19 - Semper Fidelis

2008-11-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

It was six thirty five in the morning; Tom had spent the last few days, working out of his motel room. He was accustomed to spending most of his time in big hotels with well known names in cities like New York, Paris, London and Tokyo, the motel named Country Inn just outside of Twin Oakes was so small and homely, that it could almost be considered roughing it from Tom’s perspective. Indeed many

Chapter 18 - Big Boots to Fill

2008-11-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

For three days after the funeral, Jay had neither called, visited nor answered his phone, he shut himself in and the world out, Paul, was worried. After Pops had died Paul had offered to be there for Jay for any reason at any time day or night, an offer Jay had politely refused, knowing that despite the brave front he put on, Paul was suffering just as much as Jay. Paul had been sick since Pops

Chapter 17 - Inheritence

2008-11-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Jay recommended a small coffee shop in town, which sported a nice alfresco area, it had turned out to be a hell of a fine day and neither Jay nor Tom felt like being indoors. Tom continued to tell stories of what a great man Pops had been, and Jay soaked up every word.Since Pops had gotten sick, a deep fear had begun to take a hold of Jay, a fear like he had never known. At first Jay had felt as

Chapter 16 - Folding the Flag

2008-03-24T02:22:00.000-07:00

Henry Sutherland’s funeral was a small affair, there was no one in attendance Jay knew except himself. ‘seemed that Pop’s had out lived them all’ he thought, but what a horrible price he had paid, Jays mind flashed with visions of his grandfather lying in his bed, lips lined with a mixture of blood and vomit, his eyes wide with pain.The ceremony had been curt, the priest talking about what a

Chapter 15---Reflections

2008-03-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

The cough kept getting worse. Within three weeks the cough had gotten really bad, a deep hoarse cough that seemed to choke him, Pops would often cough for minutes at a time until his pale face turned red, his body hunched over, hands gripping the arms of the recliner, his knuckles turning white under the strain. When the cough let him go, Pops would fall back into the chair wheezing , desperately

Chapter 14---Hard to breathe

2008-03-06T03:07:00.000-08:00

Jay was in his last year of high school with his 18th birthday a couple of months off, when he first noticed Pop’s cough, he had just gotten home from wrestling practice, Pops was in his favorite spot over the kitchen sink staring out the window, drinking a cup of coffee.“Hey Pops” Jay said as he entered the kitchen, on his way to the refrigerator.Pops started to cough pretty badly Jay figured he

Chapter 13---No loose ends

2008-02-26T07:05:00.000-08:00

The phone rang and Henry Sutherland answered it.“Hello”“Hi, this is Jack Sabian, is that you Henry?”“Yes, Jack, any word?”“We found Hank Turners Body this morning; well at least we found what was left of it.”“Really, can’t say I’m sorry to hear that. How’d it happen?”“Beaten and dismembered looks like it wasn’t post mortem either.”“Any suspects?”“One but, we’ll never get him, few of his leads

Chapter 12---Final Home Coming

2008-02-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

On June seventeenth Henry Sutherland left Twin Oakes at six o’clock in the morning, beginning the long drive to New York, he returned two days later, after signing all the necessary documents involved in getting Marie-Ann Sutherlands body released from the morgue, that same evening her body was received by Fred McDonnell at the Twin Oakes sleepy meadows funeral home.On June twenty, Marie-Ann

Chapter Eleven-Messy or clean?

2007-12-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

Jack Sabian sat on the sofa, and sipped a cup of coffee, across from him sat Jay and Henry Sutherland.“Once again I’m sorry” said Jack.“Thank you detective”“Please Jay, call me Jack” Sabian placed his cup on the coffee table, “This is really good coffee Henry, maybe the best I’ve ever had.”“We all have our vices Jack, mines a good cup of Joe, I use my own mix of beans” Pops smiled.There was a

Chapter ten---One day in August

2007-12-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

It was the middle of August, the air was so thick you could almost cut through it with a knife, coupled with extreme heat, the nights were sleepless, the days torture, August was the month that everybody in Twin Oakes wished they were someplace else.Jay was fifteen; he and Paul had just finished wrestling tryout for Twin Oaks Junior High, they walked home each trying to trip the other over, the

Chapter nine---Standing ground

2007-12-01T06:07:00.000-08:00

Jay’s life became pretty much normal and by his 16th birthday, he had a girl, a couple of good buddies and was even doing well on the twin oaks high wrestling team. He and Pops never spoke of his “parents” and when people asked about them, he just told them that his parents had died when he was young. Jay had come a long way.When he had first attended Twin oaks elementary, it had been hard, he

Chapter eight---Moving on

2007-11-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

It was another glorious day in the small town of Twin Oakes, thought Henry Sutherland as he stood over the kitchen sink, drinking his morning coffee. He stared out the window looking up at the blue sky, only a few cloud whisks rolled overhead at some unimaginable altitude. Henry loved the blue sky, even on his darkest days, of which he’d known more than his share; he could find some peace in the

Chapter seven---The Fishing Spot

2007-11-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

A week passed, Jay hadn’t seen his mother since they had arrived, he had heard her arguing with Pops, but the words where all muffled, he hadn’t been able to figure out much of what was said, but he could tell it wasn’t working. One morning Jay crept downstairs, not wanting to be seen, as he had done his whole life, habits are easy to form, but hard to break, he saw his gradfather standing over

Chapter Six---A New Day

2007-11-11T00:04:00.000-08:00

Marie-Ann sat alone on the front porch, smoking a pal mal and watching as the sun slowly sank below the distant horizon, filling the sky with an array of pink and gold. The sky looked like it was on fire, the suns warmth still holding off the chill of the night air. It was mid April, spring was all around, but winter still owned the night. Marie-Ann, inhaled the dusk air deeply, her lungs filling

Chapter five---Haunting memories and a new beginning

2007-11-05T02:19:00.000-08:00

Henry Sutherland lived in a small town surrounded by farms, Jay sat in the front seat of the car, Marie-Ann lay sleeping on the back seat, she had refused to ride next to her father, Jay sat there, mouth agape, looking out the window, just staring at the blue sky, he had never seen so much sky in his life, there were no buildings, people shouting, police sirens, gun shots, nothing, but fields of

Chapter four---The doorbell rang

2007-10-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

The door bell rang, Jay and his mother remained unmoved, Jay watched the door, His mother sat in her chair smoking, staring at the wall, the bell rang again and this time Marie-Ann blinked, she turned her gaze towards Jay, “Get the fucking door you waste of fucking air” she spat.Jay stood, almost robotically, he never did anything unless he was told, fear had created that habit, he walk down the

Chapter three--- Swirling smoke

2007-10-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

Marie-Ann Sutherland sat in the living room of her apartment, smoking a pal-mall, she’d been smoking them since she was sixteen, and stolen one from her mothers pack. She remembered that the cigarette had tasted horrible, a kind of burning charcoal that almost choked her, causing her to cough violently, but when she was sixteen everyone who was any one smoked.Marie-Ann sat in her usual place, an

Chapter two---A lion in the world of men

2007-10-23T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hank Turner wasn’t ashamed of who he was, ‘and fuck anyone who was’ he thought to himself as he nursed his fifth or sixth straight bourbon, who really kept track past the third one. A lot of guys in this town hit their women, why should he feel bad, she had a mouth and lacked respect, as for the boy, well that bastard kid had a look which Hank just didn’t like, probably did the boy good, Hank

Chapter One---It was him or me

2007-10-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

‘It was him or me’ Jay Sutherland could hear his inner voice repeating, ‘him or me’. Jay wasn’t really sure who ‘he’ was, all he knew was that his head hurt, his body ached and he was cold.Slowly, he began to open his eyes, only now realizing they had been shut. His eyes felt so tired, almost burnt, as though he'd been driving all night staring into the headlamps of the oncoming traffic. He

About me and why I chose to write and publish my novel online

2007-10-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!A little bit about me:Firstly I am a writer, my love of writing fiction started many years ago, when I was first exposed to script writing. I have written many short screenplays and even published a few on an amateur level. As my life progressed and changed so did not only my writing style but also my goals as an author, I found that I no longer