Friends to Die For
by
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CHAPTER 1
"Twenty three, twenty four, twenty five," she counted, glancing at the clock on the table. "Fifteen more minutes."
Her daily work-out consisted of forty sit-ups and an equal number of leg lifts and arm curls. Even as the phone rang for the second time this morning, she refused to answer it. "Just Karen trying to ruin the start of my day with Judy’s problems. If she can’t stop her headlong rush into self-destruction, neither can I. Every one of us has lived with a broken heart. Loving the wrong man never killed any woman."
As she counted each move, there was no way she could know that the shadow of death waited just around the corner and by the end of summer their lives would be turned upside down. Then she’d long for the insistent ring of the phone and the voice of her friend at the other end.
"Thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine. . . Between Karen dumping on me about her children and Marva about her husband, neither one of them cares that I could use a little TLC myself right now."
Forty-six years old, beautiful, successful in every way, but now restlessness settled on her with a vengeance. These stirrings begged for something new, another chance to choose, leave Roosevelt, buy a smaller house, begin serious dating again.
While working intolerable hours, Heleena had given all of the remaining time to her children. Johnny was now in graduate school and Richie with his dad. Greg decided she babied him too much. Anne remained in Atlanta for the summer, living in the same apartment they'd rented for her at the beginning of her sophomore year. She had blocks of empty hours now, time to sort through unresolved issues.
Greg left her to live with a woman he met at a convention. His only explanation after twelve years of marriage was the marriage had been a mistake. He was right.
She met him through Karen and Scooter. Karen arranged blind dates for her and Marva with Scooter’s best friends, Al Harris and Greg Walton, two good looking interns. Blind dates are always chancy; I should have been on guard.
Marva didn’t know either of them, but Heleena had met Al on two previous occasions. It was natural for her to believe he would be her date, but it didn't happen that way.
Half a lifetime later, Heleena still felt Marva was the lucky one. She, on the other hand, married the ringer and often wondered where her life might have gone had she been Al’s date that night. In spite of everything, they remained the closest friends, always enjoying life together as a tight unit.
Those early years were an exciting time in their young lives. They were invincible, living life on their own terms. At what point did it start to come apart? That was the question she'd asked herself in the middle of many a lonely night. What happened?
The physical difference between these two was obvious, the personality differences no so noticeable. Two handsome people. Al, 6'4", was still lean at 53 years of age. Marva 5'2" and five years younger, was always described as cute because of her doll-like face and pixie hairdo.
They'd been together almost twenty-six years and appeared compatible. Each had learned to flow with the other’s rhythm, but as they moved around the expansive kitchen this bright Friday morning, less obvious was how each accepted the new day. Al was a morning person, unlike Marva who stayed in bed until the last possible moment. Today, however, she rose early, trying to cool her husband's anger at their daughter's late nights with her new boyfriend. He'd been up since 5:00 a.m.
"Why was Selena out until 3:00 a.m.? What was she doing and where was she?"
"Whoa--One question at a time."
"What's going on with her? This isn’t the first time."
"She's in love. You remember love don't you?"
He refused to be drawn into another argument with her, so made no comment.
"She's dating that guy she met in Atlanta."
"He's from Atlanta?"
"No. Philadelphia is his home, but he lives here now."
"Where?"
"Out in Prince George's County somewhere." His annoying questions plucked every one of her nerves. "Is there something wrong Al?"
"Nothing's wrong with her dating, but staying out until all hours in the morning? What is she doing?"
"The exact same thing you and I did when we were dating. Remember?"
"I want her in this house earlier than two or three in the morning."
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About the Book
This is the story of six friends, the first generation of African Americans who came of age at a unique time in their history, the eve of the civil rights movement. They trust only each other. This unusual intimacy has bred an interdependence that extends to each having claims on the others’ time, resources, and ultimately a marriage bed. Suddenly, they face a frightening truth: life did not deal them the perfect hand they thought they held.
As summer approaches, pent-up fears result in behavior they never could have foreseen. The good friends-relationship between Heleena and Al explodes across the boundaries of friendship. Karen’s determination to control her children’s lives ends in tragedy. Her daughter, unlike her son, is incapable of resisting her mother’s unrelenting pressure. She becomes prey for a man whose seemingly caring nature hides a cruel streak. Marva has reached a point in her marriage where she can no longer pretend normalcy as she takes a hard look at her life with Al. He, on the other hand, still feels the sting of Marva’s trap after all their years together.
By the end of September the group’s close-knit bond is forever torn.
About the Author
The author, like her characters, is a member of the first generation of African Americans to take advantage of all the benefits brought by the civil rights movement. A keen observer of this population, she is in a position to understand their fears and concerns as they examine their life choices. She knows intimately that even though they appear to "have it all together," but scratch the surface and their world is in turmoil. She is a trial attorney, formally with the U.S. Department of Justice.