Goody One Shoe (27 page)
Authors: Julie Frayn
First Saturday in October
A BREEZE RIPPLED THROUGH
the limbs
of the giant elm, sending a few bright yellow leaves to their final resting
place atop Tony Dickinson’s shining oak casket. Billie stood under the tree’s
shade, her head bowed in prayer and respect.
“Amen.” The street minister, a regular at the shelter where Tony
spent his weekends, raised his head and looked to the skies. “Tony went through
his rough times. He did some bad things in his day. But he paid the price that
the courts demanded. He did his time, not one day less. And we ask God to
consider that to be good enough. To welcome him with open arms.”
Each of the mourners, a small crowd of Tony’s homeless
brethren, two shelter volunteers, and Ms. Jamison, his parole officer, took
turns tossing a handful of dirt onto the lid of his coffin. Tears glistened on
Ms. Jamison’s cheeks when she passed by. She placed one hand on Billie’s
shoulder and nodded. “Tony would have loved this. Thank you.”
Billie waited for the others to shuffle away before she
kneeled in front of the grave. She dug her fingers into the dirt pile and
squished the soil into her palm. She closed her eyes and opened her fist one
finger at time. Clods of dirt knocked on the lid of Tony’s casket.
Billie prayed for his soul to be saved. For God to accept
him into heaven. She had forgiven him his sins against her. Against her family.
Would God forgive the rest?
She stood and stared at Tony’s final resting place for a few
minutes, then sprinkled the coffin with five daffodils. One for her mother. One
for her father. One for her grandmother, who never recovered from the loss of
her son. One for Billie. And one for Tony.
None for Art Douglas. He could burn in hell.
She leaned into Bruce’s body. He’d been within inches of her
the entire service, his hand on the small of her back or at her waist, a gentle
reminder of his presence. His support. His love. She looked up at him. “I’m
ready.”
He nodded. “Are you hungry? Maybe a submarine in Tony’s
honour.”
Her stomach grumbled in protest.
“Can we have pie?”
Thank you for taking the time to read
Goody One Shoe
.
If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short
review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.
I ACKNOWLEDGE MY CHILDREN
. I
have to, the courts said so. Kidding! My kids are everything. Without Baby Girl
and Baby Boy, I would be one miserable dude.
This
version of Goody has a new cover. My dear systir,
Carolyn Frayn
, created the original. I
loved that our individual brands of art can grace the same product. She was
working on a reboot of the Goody cover when her cancer jumped up and grabbed
her again. She died in December 2015.
The
new cover is thanks to Dane Low of
www.Ebooklaunch.com
.
A custom character of Billie Fullalove in all her vigilante, superhero-wannabe
glory.
Thanks
to my brother, John Frayn. He is a cop, and my go-to guy for all things
cop-related. And this time gun-related. Between him, Steve Johns and Scott
Morgan (the civilian gun guys), I hope to have gotten the details right. I hate
guns. Luckily, these guys know their shit.
To
Tracy Todd, an old friendship renewed (seriously, met the girl in grade
school), for her eagle eye for literary oopsies.
Thanks
to
author JD Mader
,
and author and editor,
Laurie Boris
. JD’s
2minutesgo! flash fiction exercise on his
blog
got this Goody party started, and Laurie (after a flip comment I made about
being called goody two shoes in school but now I’m just goody one shoe) told me
Goody One Shoe
was my next book title. Be damned if she wasn’t right.
Thanks also to
Laurie
,
author and
editor
,
David Antrobus
, and my own wonderful
editor, Scott Morgan, for giving me tips and insight into what it’s like to be
an editor, including all of their idiosyncrasies, rituals, and pet peeves about
us fellow authors.
And
speaking of my editor - countless thanks to Scott for two full edits plus a
final read through. He makes me a better writer (even though he disagrees), and
I love him for it. That, and because he’s just so cool.
BY DAY I COUNT BEANS
. The
rest of the time, I revel in the written word. When I’m not working or writing,
I spend as much time as possible with my babies. Well, they’re grown adults
now, but they still think I’m cool. Right kids? Right? Hello?
I
am working on my fifth and sixth novels. One will tell the fictionalized story
of my parents’ love affair. The other is a more gruesome tale of murder and
suspense.
I
also pen short stories and pour my heart out on my blog,
www.juliefrayn.com
, as mental floss
between novels.
I
love, love, LOVE hearing from readers. If you’d like to contact me, you can
find me here:
Website/Blog:
www.juliefrayn.com
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/juliefrayn
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/juliebirdfrayn
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Frayn/e/B00BH47C3G
Winner of the 2015 Indie Reader Discovery Award
for Literary Fiction
Named to three Best of 2014 lists by Suspense
Magazine, IndieReader.com and Readfree.ly
“
Just finished reading this
story and I'm still holding my breath. I could have been Mazie and this very
well could have been my story. The characters were so real and the action so
authentic my head is still reeling from its emotional impact. Excellent, and
thank you to the author for pulling back the curtain on spousal abuse.” ~
Veralisa Fresh
“The dialogue is raw, the character development
happens at a life-like pace, and the story line — though depicting a desperate
mother — never wavers on the edge of fantasy. Though fiction, MAZIE BABY could
arguably be a firsthand autobiography for someone.” ~ Jessica Czarnogursky for
IndieReader.
Winner of the BigAl’s Books and Pals 2014
Readers’ Choice Award for women’s fiction
“Jemima, struggling to understand how she lost her
fiancé and trying to make sense of her life after his death, is so utterly
human that she blooms off the page.” ~ Laurie Boris
“Jemima Stone, Jem for short, is one those
characters I found myself caring about almost immediately. She isn’t without
faults (who among us is?), but she also has a way of taking a negative and
turning it positive, which is a quality we could all emulate.” ~ BigAl’s Books
& Pals
Winner of double gold medals in the Authorsdb.com
2013 cover contest
(Formerly titled
Suicide City
)
“Suicide City is gritty, unrelenting, tragic,
desperate, sad, heart-warming, heart-breaking, and gut-wrenching.” ~ Sean P.
Farley
“Hands down, the best ending line of any book I've
read in the thirty-one years I've been a reader. Please, do not miss this
exceptional novel!” ~ Amber Jerome Norrgard
A collection of three short-short stories
“
These stories are difficult to read,
powerfully written, emotionally draining and awesome. Frayn’s writing is
flawless. There is nothing with which I can find fault. Frayn gives us a
glimpse into a world that might seem bleak but is not without heroes.” ~ Rabid
Readers Reviews
Two
Wins and an Honourable Mention
Another collection of three short-short stories
"A roller-coaster ride of pity, punk,
repulsion, and redemption."
"Unique and quirky."
"Sick, twisted, scary but with a bit of macabre
humor too."