FRAGILE
-An Excerpt-
Click Here For Audio
...Someone in the group spotted them. Beverly fingered the bracelet and looked past him, bringing her eyes back as she spoke. “I guess opposites attract,” she said, just before their host reached them. Alarmed, Anderson started back out the door, but the host slipped her arm through his and ushered him down the hall.
He didn’t get another opportunity to talk to Beverly because after the first round of drinks a debate ensued over what to do about the prairie dogs infesting the backyards on the west side of the street. One of Anderson’s neighbors proposed poison while another thought it would be better to shoot the rodents. Beverly said that would rightly lead to a protest from environmentalists, and someone else said then they’d just have to shoot the protesters. Anderson looked for hidden cameras. He drank a second and third highball, smiling in sympathy at Beverly. The topic was tabled until the next meeting.
The prairie dog conundrum was followed by unresolved issues from the previous meeting, problems with flooding and radon. Spring runoff had threatened the neighborhood before Anderson and his wife had moved in, and the association now couldn’t decide whether or not a retaining pond was needed. Refilling his glass, Anderson said they could stock the pond with fish. The discussion was tabled. Radon levels were off the charts. Gas was seeping through the foundations in three out of four houses. The TV news crew had a picture of their block with a menacing tagline: “Is A Silent Killer Stalking You in Your Own House?” Kate had suggested they get the house tested before they bought it, but Anderson argued all of these people wouldn’t be living here if there were problems. They’d built an ideal community. The next morning he had to tell her, omitting his sloppy pass at Beverly under the hanging plant on his way out the door. Kate made them check into a hotel until a fan and pipes were installed to draw the radon up through the basement to the outside. Late at night, their house hummed.
To Read The Rest Of This Story,
Order now from:
Amazon.com,
Barnes & Noble,
or the
Publisher