Deadly Memory

Chapter Two

A sleek black Camaro Z28 with tinted windows and alloy wheels pulled into the driveway and parked under the carport. A pensive Louis watched the driver emerge. When the man passed under the porch light Louis could see he was about six-one with a muscular physique and a stylish cut in his blondish brown hair. Handsome. He wore a gray flannel suit and carried in his right hand a square brown leather briefcase.

Megan did not hear her husband Richard come in. She was still upstairs trying to coax Jeremy and Janey into their beds. Despite the remarkable number of rooms on the second floor, the children preferred sharing a room. Its walls were lined with red, yellow and blue shelves crammed with storybooks, trucks, dolls, and stuffed animals. Posters of various Disney movies were tacked to the pink walls: The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Pinnochio, Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Lion King, Pocohantas.

Jeremy and Janey were seated in front of a Compaq computer, sharing a chair and the joystick. They were playing "Body Blows" on CD-ROM.

Janey was controlling Maria, a large-breasted Amazon in a turquoise lycra suit who was knocking out her male opponents by side-kicking them and twirling into them like a ballerina spinning like a high-speed top. She escaped their blows by doing splits.

Megan seldom let her children play violent computer games, but she derived satisfaction from watching Janey make Maria knock the crap out of threatening male hulks, Ninjas and Cossacks. It somehow gave Megan a secure feeling to know her daughter could so bravely defend herself against evil men - something she'd been unable to do as a little girl.

"You asked for it, Mister Ninja!" Janey cried, jerking the joystick so that Maria kicked the black-hooded Ninja in the balls.

The Ninja fell flat on his back, clutching his groin. A new game started and the Ninja came back, wielding a machete and looking fiercer than ever.

"Hey, get out of my way, Mister!" Janey cried. "I'll beat you up! Take this! And this! And definitely this!"

Jeremy watched the color computer monitor, wide-eyed and impressed by his sister's pugilistic skills.

"Janey! Watch out!" he cried as a thug named Nik in a red baseball cap snuck up behind Maria and tried to nail her.

Megan was kneeling beside the computer, peering over Janey and Jeremy's shoulders, just as engrossed as they were.

"Megan!"

Richard's voice boomed up the curving stairwell.

Megan hit the power button and the computer screen went black.

"Mom!" Jeremy and Janey whined simultaneously.

"Time for bed. It's late."

"But Janey was almost to level four!" Jeremy said.

"Time for bed. Daddy needs me downstairs."

"Daddy's home!" Janey cried.

Janey, dressed in a Pocahontas nightie with Swan Princess slippers, and Jeremy, wearing yellow Pokemon pajamas, scampered out of the room and down the spiraling staircase. Megan walked to the top of the stairs and watched Richard give each of the children a quick hug.

"Now get back to bed," he said.

"I'll be down in a minute, honey," Megan said in her wifey voice. "Come on, kids. First one into bed gets a gold star."

Janey and Jeremy zoomed past Megan and dove onto their single beds in their room. They each knew that five gold stars meant a new toy from Target and ten gold stars meant a trip to the Mall of America. Jeremy peeked out from under his Thomas the Tank Engine cover and declared, "I won!"

"No, you didn't," Janey protested. "I was in bed a zillion years before you."

"You were not!"

"Was too!"

"Were not!"

"Was too!"

"It's a tie," Megan said wearily. "You both get gold stars if you don't say another word."

Silence reigned.

Megan kissed Janey on the cheek. "Sleep tight, sweetie. I love you."

"Mommy?" Janey said softly.

"Hmmm?"

"Will you read me one of those politically correct bedtime stories?"

Megan smiled. She knew those stories were way over Janey's head. But Janey liked to listen to her mother laugh as she read them. Particularly the passage in "Princess and the Pea" when the prince, questioning his sexual identity, decides to give up his search for a princess to marry and search instead for a suitable prince.

"Not tonight, dear. It's late and you've school tomorrow."

She tried to kiss Jeremy, but he ducked under the covers and squirmed away. She tickled him until he threw of the covers, shrieking with laughter. She then managed to plant several kisses on his forehead.

"Mommy, stop! Kisses are for girls!"

"Says who?"

"My friend Michael."

"Well, you tell Michael that kisses are for boys too."

Megan popped the Little Red Fire Truck song-and-story tape into their cassette player and turned the volume to low. She pulled down one window shade, then crossed the room to the window on the front of the house. She paused for a moment to admire the way the moon reflected off Lake of the Isles. It reminded her of the peaceful way the lake looked in the winter when it was covered with a smooth sheet of ice dusted with blowing snow. After a winter storm snow would cover the islands in the middle of the lake and the frozen water with a single white blanket. Only the bare black trees rising from the islands like frozen sentinels, and twirling ice skaters on the far side of the lake, would break the monotony of the whiteness.

Megan was about to pull the cord when she noticed the faint silhouette of a man in a fedora hat sitting on a park bench next to a garbage bin. He seemed to be looking up at her. She could see the faint cherry glow of the cigarette in his left hand. Something about the man made her shiver as she pulled down the shade. A minute later she pulled it up again. He was gone.

If  you've enjoyed reading the prologue and the first two chapters of Deadly Memory, and would like to purchase the book when it is published, send your e-mail address and phone number to Mark@mathabane.com

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