stayed behind in her job and crossed the Atlantic only as she approached forty, with her own health already suffering and her father coming to the end of his life. Morgan Lewis died a slow death, eventually succumbing to Alzheimerâs at sixty-two. He had little to leave his two children, apart from the opportunity to embrace the American dream.
Jim used most of the money he got from selling his fatherâs house to pay for his sisterâs health care. This made him, in spite of his numerous character flaws that included stubbornness and a lack of education, appear worthy of peopleâs respect.
He switched on the radio and tuned in to a country music station. He liked country music, especially since learning to dance to it at the Road to Hell on Saturday nights.
He got to work on the engine of Tedâs Wrangler. As usual, he just needed to give it a once over and then top up the oil and antifreeze.
All his focus really was on Ronald Howardâs Mercedes-Benz. Now the muffler was done, he had to make sure the driverâs door opened smoothly.
After a couple hours work, the gull-wing door once again opened effortlessly as if it had just rolled off the production line back in the days when the world was full of hope after a decade spent recovering from the horrors of the Second World War.
No sooner had he finished the job than Ted Burton entered the repair shop with two bags of fried chicken and a four-pack of beer.
âJeez, Jim, that babyâs gotta be worth more than your house and mine put together! What happened? Did it have a run-in with a Rockefeller?â Ted said in his baritone voice.
Jim smiled: âItâs the jewel in Ronald Howardâs collection.â
âIs that your pal whoâs married to the Loch Ness monster?â
âYep, thatâs the one.â
âAnd he leaves this Fort-Knox-on-wheels in your repair shop? If I were you, I might have found a way to make it disappear by now!â said Ted, laughing heartily.
âI canât deny Iâve given it some thought, Ted, but here, let me show you something. Look over there, across the street...â replied Jim, pointing to an armored car with two men inside.
âIâd spotted that car. Who are those two guys?â asked Ted curiously.
âTheyâre private security guards hired by the Howards. Theyâve been out there three days and nights. They change shifts with another two guards every eight hours. But thatâs not it; come look out the bathroom window. Thereâs another armored car keeping watch over the back.â
âJeez! Money talks, huh?â muttered Ted as he followed Jim into the bathroom.
âMaybe marrying that brute wasnât such a dumb idea after all, huh Ted?â Jim said, taking one of the bags of fried chicken from his friend.
âYouâd better believe it, even if itâs meant having to get Viagra on prescription refill, the old dog!â
âMaybe he likes it...â
âJim, thatâs gotta be worse than going with a guy. He canât possibly enjoy it. Heâs just thinking of the interest in his bank account!â exclaimed Ted knowingly.
âThereâs nothing worse than going with a guy. Iâd rather fuck a sheep, as long as it was female!â replied Jim with a look of disgust.
âBud, my ex-wife used to say that homophobes were actually repressed homosexuals...â replied Ted, snickering as he bit into a piece of chicken.
âNot in my case. Look, Iâve got nothing against them...itâs just that Iâd rather keep them at armâs length. Whatever they get up to in their own time is fine, but I donât wanna know about it and I donât want them anywhere near me. Thanks for the chicken and beer, by the way. Make sure you donât choke on it!â said Jim, before tucking in to his first piece of meat as he watched Ted spluttering because his had gone down the wrong way.
âWash it down, my friend. I donât want a dead body lying in my repair shop!â he added, as Ted recovered from his episode by downing half his can of beer.
âHowâs my Jeep?â asked Ted, having finished his beer and thrown the can in the trash.
âOh sheâs doing great, Ted. Sheâs like a tank!â
âThey donât make âem like they used to, bud. Theyâre just heaps of junk nowadays!â said Ted, cracking open another beer and taking a big mouthful.
âAinât that the truth...â replied Jim, looking down at his watch. It was nearly twelve.
Ted Burton let out a huge belch of such volume it caught the attention of the two guards hired by Ronald Howard to watch over his Mercedes.
Chapter 4
H enry had spent the first of the two hours he had to complete the math test regularly repeating a four-step movement of his neck: first to the left, looking out the window; second a tiny bit to the right, peeking down at what his classmate Nicholas was writing on his graph paper; third straight ahead, checking that Miss Anderson wasnât looking; and fourth ahead and to the right, trying to catch the eye of Joanna, but she was engrossed in her work, her head bent over her paper as she furiously scribbled down calculations that were way beyond Henry.
âI canât do it...â Henry whispered to Nicholas.
âSo copy,â replied Nicholas under his breath, not even lifting his head.
He would have copied Henry himself, but Nicholas was already on page three and his neighbor was still stuck on page one.
â Ah, who cares?â thought Henry as he turned the page and began to copy what little he could make out from Nicholasâs sheet.
Chapter 5
I n New York, Barbara Harrison was running north to south through Central Park. She would do her daily workout come rain or shine, although sometimes she had to put work first, in which case she would make do with the treadmill in her apartment or, when she was out of town, the ones in hotel gyms.
She had a lunch date with Robert at one oâclock. They had made up over the phone the previous evening, and this afternoon they would be heading off together to spend the weekend in Robertâs woodland cottage up in Maine, which Barbara considered to be their love nest.
Robert, who was already forty-seven and had an established career, was keen for things with Barbara to move to the next stage. It wasnât that she wasnât keen on Robert or hadnât thought about taking the next step - after all, theyâd been seeing each other for years - it was just that he didnât seem to tolerate her working hours anymore. She could be around for the whole week then suddenly take off for days, or sometimes weeks, on end. Robert hated that,
