Uncovered Secrets
by
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The teenage stepson remains in the restroom, thoughts swirling, making no sense. His anger heightens as his lips tighten and his teeth clench. He turns to see his reflection in a mirror above the washbasins.
He appears to have aged since his confrontation with his stepfather, only minutes ago. Wrinkles along his eyes and lines on his forehead are new features to his appearance. He sympathizes with the sad person looking at him from the mirror, puzzled in a way, how one’s attitude and appearance can change so dramatically, so quickly, without notice. Life is not fair, he admits. He is shocked at who he sees.
He slowly approaches the mirror, wanting to get a closer look at the stranger. Hoping, in a way, the closer he looks reveals someone else, not him, staring back, looking so conspicuous. He finds no such conclusion.
His eyes begin to fill with water, not yet enough to the point of tears. Shock now turns to anger. His breathing is now deep, labored, at two-second intervals. He places his hands on both sides of the wash basin, flat, leaning his upper body torso forward. He drops his head over the wash basin.
A growling sound escapes from his stomach, as he tastes acid finding its way up his esophagus. He swallows deeply, trying to neutralize the rancid taste. Unable to control the liquid’s march, his stomach involuntarily constricts causing him to gulp. A yellow-green liquid pours from his mouth into the wash basin as his stomach tries to empty itself of the torment.
There is a short pause to his vomiting before the second stomach constriction, followed by a dry vomit. Nothing left in his stomach to expel.
The aftertaste in his mouth is both sweet and sour. He spits in the wash basin. Then he turns on the water faucet, cupping his hands in the water’s flow, transporting the water to his mouth for a rinse.
He gargles for a few seconds, then spits out into the wash basin. He repeats the process one more time. His head remains lowered over the wash basin while his breathing returns to a normal rhythm.
He swallows once as he lifts his head to inspect the image of the person in the mirror. Next to the aged face appears another image, that of a young man, about his age, ghostly white! He blinks his eyes once as he lowers his head. Slowly he lifts his head again. The ghostly white image of a young man is absent. What remains is his aged face in the mirror.
“I am going mad,” he says to himself as he straightens his body. He reaches for a paper towel to dry his face. He tosses the used paper towel into the wash basin, and then extends his hand again toward the paper towel dispenser. He grabs several towels.
He places the paper towels against the mirror, pressing with his left hand. He clenches his right hand into a fist, cocks his arm, and thrusts it against the paper towels with as much force as he can.
The mirror cracks in several places, yet pieces do not shatter away from the wall.
Using his pocketknife, he removes a piece of mirror in the shape of a triangle, about three inches wide at the base and about six inches high. He wraps the mirror in a dry paper towel and places the weapon inside his shirt next to his body.
The image in the cracked mirror appears determined and focused, on a specific mission. The image disappears as he leaves the men’s rest room, not noticing Betsy who has been listening to the conversation with interest.
He slowly walks down the stairs to the lobby, intending to return to the movie theater room that he had left, looking for his stepfather. His friend interrupts his journey.
“Hey! Where have you been? I have been sitting waiting for you,” his friend says.
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About the Book
What if your darkest secret, something you intentionally kept hidden from others, was about to be uncovered? What would you do to keep it private?
A young boy confronts his stepfather outside Evergreen Preferred Theaters after he sees him with a woman other than his mother in an intimate situation. The other woman is shocked to learn the man is married with a son. The man, Thomas Bowie, also known as Thomas Swite, is later found dead inside the Theater. Were these three people somehow involved in his death?
With no suspects found by the police, Lloyd Hyde, the Theater’s film projectionist, decides to investigate the crime. His boss, Mr. Calvert, someone who shows signs of being in a profession too long, tries to discourage him against the idea, even threatening to terminate his employment if he persists. Is he protecting a secret?
Betsy, the Theater’s sexy and manipulative employee, plans another tactic to stop Lloyd. She has her own reasons.
Mix in a ghost, a capable yet callous police officer at the end of his uneventful career, an emotionally naïve needy young woman, and a brash young female executive hopeful.
As Lloyd persists in his bravery, he gets closer to uncovering the murderer than he realizes as several secrets are revealed. Finally, on
About the Author
Antonio F. Vianna lectures, and teaches business and management courses at the
Vianna’s Career Management and Employee Portfolio Tool Kit Workbook posits that your career is a dynamic process that requires constant reevaluation and fine-tuning. This Workbook is for those seeking self-discovery in managing their career, hobby, or life-style. He conducts Workshops on the topic.
In Leader Champions: Secrets of Success, Vianna teams up with Dr. Mark B. Silber to create a dynamic text about your choices to be a leader champion. This is a no-nonsense text to stimulate your leadership, human relations, and personal growth competencies.
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Talking Rain is about a twenty-year-old cold case murder. Mix in academic rivalry, problem gambling, an alleged affair, and a callow policewoman with her on-again off-again reporter, and you have an incredible topsy-turvy ride.