Sitting here thinking
of the novel I'll write.
About a teen-ager sent away to a group home
where home boys strip off his clothes in a cattle pin
and shove him into a pile of shit. His abusers laugh.
Seething with anger and tears, he showers for hours, but he can't get clean, his revenge is to live well, much better than those mother fuckers.
He earns his college degree and lands a job covering school boards, crime and business. The small town newspaper seems to make him a hero. Jacko the sign painter is his drinking companion at the bar.
He walks daily on the beach of Antiparos, a Greek island. The expatriate plays backgammon with John Pierre, shares a Spleef and listens to The Doors' Riders on the Storm.
The Bitcoin trader buys it cheap and watches it go up 1O0 times, now he's rich living the High Life. He drives a Ferrari on Highway 101 at Laguna Beach, California.
Looking for meaning, he devours art and creativity. He lives intensely, connecting with humanity, nature and the universe.
He works in Yellowstone National Park, where he joins a group of naturalists who bath in the hot pots. They climb Electric Peak. Reaching the top, they jump up and touch 11,000 feet above sea level. He sees far away the Teton Mountains, their shimming purple peaks in the clouds.
He works in Yellowstone National Park, where he joins a group of naturalists who bath in the hot pots. They climb Electric Peak. Reaching the top, they jump up and touch 11,000 feet above sea level. He sees far away the Teton Mountains, their shimming purple peaks in the clouds.
He reads poems with friends on the river side, with a little wine and cheese, they dance by moonlight and see the Aurora Borealis rise in the northern sky. Revenge's greatest thrill.
A better way to live, thoughtful, balanced, minimalist. Work faster, make more money, breathe in the oxygen, it's free. The golfer swings easy, the ball goes farther, go figure.
For decades he buries the secret of his past at the boys home. Then one day he looks up his abuser's name Matthew Downing. It turns out Downing raped his probation officer, spent his life in jail. And died. Who is laughing now?
The author and his wife raise two children. They reunite with his cousins in Puerto Rico, they see Paris together, they go to Yellowstone. They celebrate their love for each other.
For decades he buries the secret of his past at the boys home. Then one day he looks up his abuser's name Matthew Downing. It turns out Downing raped his probation officer, spent his life in jail. And died. Who is laughing now?
The author and his wife raise two children. They reunite with his cousins in Puerto Rico, they see Paris together, they go to Yellowstone. They celebrate their love for each other.
The cold winter leaves him depressed, feeling a loss of energy, he curls under his blanket and watches the flames of fire dance in the fireplace.
Spring clouds disappear as the sun bakes his face. He shouts "I am alive." And spreads his arms into the sky. "This is all that I am and that is enough." Revenge's greatest thrill.
--Michael Hooper, Oct. 23, 2018
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