Norman Bereft
by
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University Park, Maryland
December 15, 1992
Officer Brad Jones shuddered in the frigid air as he made his way along the path. When he’d started with the town police force two months earlier, he’d had visions of more exciting work. A missing dog–who gives a shit about a missing dog? This assignment is probably standard hazing for rookies. I bet they're laughing their asses off back at the station house.
He hiked up his scarf to stem the cold making its way under the collar of his town-issue, quilted jacket. The sun was just starting to come up. He glanced down at his watch–7:19.
The snow crunched under his boots as he approached the bench-still no sign of the missing cocker spaniel. The overturned trashcan caught his eye-snow-covered rubbish strewn everywhere. Then he looked up and saw it dangling from the tree–a dummy made up to look like a man who’d hanged himself. He started to laugh as he walked over to the tree. Kids did a pretty good job, almost looks real–must watch lots of TV.
Upon grabbing the figure he recoiled in horror, and a tidal wave of nausea overcame him. After vomiting in the snow he staggered over to the bench and collapsed. He sat there for a minute, slumped over with his head between his knees. Still shaking he took a deep breath, wiped his lips with his scarf, and pulled out his walkie-talkie. “Town-base, town-base–this is Mobile-6. Do you copy?”
“I read you, Brad. You find that cocker?”
Hearing the sound of laughter in the background angered him. “Maybe you guys won’t be laughing so hard when you come to the park and take a look at the body I found!”
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About the Book
NORMAN BEREFT
Norman D Beech has narrowly squeezed by a fatal pile-up on life’s highway. Alcohol-induced blackouts have deeply cratered all lanes behind him. The road ahead is fogbound, obscured by uncertainty and doubt. Jobless, beset by creditors, and facing DUI charges, the troubled 40-year-old engineer struggles to get his life in order. Putting his Connecticut house up for sale, he flies back to his boyhood home near Washington, DC, to be with his widowed mother, Ethel.
Depression and anxiety attacks impede his recovery. At his mother’s urging, he seeks and receives help from her pastor, Father Bob Hopkins. The two men discover much in common, meeting often to confront their fears together and begin a close friendship.
Unemployed for over a year, Norm lands a job and meets Kay Bradley, whose charms overcome his fear of getting involved. Unwilling to wait for the Church’s annulment of his previous marriage, they elope to Las Vegas. His job-travel demands soon test the strength of their union, but he is ecstatic when he learns that she is pregnant.
A Trojan horse of uncertainty works its way back into Norm’s life. A tiny seed of doubt precipitates a tragic act leading to the loss of all he holds dear. Overwhelmed by grief and depression, he fixates on an alcoholic teenager as the source of all his misery. Norm has nothing left to live for but his revenge–Warren Ward must pay with his life!
About the Author
Nicholas D. Brown was born in 1942 in Washington, DC. A career in mechanical engineering spanned the range from the development of advanced utility power generation plants to missile propulsion systems design & analysis. He currently lives in Florida.
NORMAN BEREFT is his second novel.