Amor in Appalachia
Coal Mines and Moonshine
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
You look upset,” Lonzo said to Cindy one Friday at lunch. “Is anything wrong?”
“My life is over. That’s as wrong as it can be.”
“Can I do anything to help? I’m a good listener.”
“You’ve got other customers, Cindy, the manager said. “Don’t spend all your time talking to one.”
“Come back at six o’clock and walk home with me.”
“I’ll be here.”
The five hours until six o’clock dragged by slowly, and he couldn’t quiet the butterflies in his stomach. He went now and then to the front window of his shop and looked at the diner across the street, hoping to get a glimpse of her a she passed a window.
“I met Howard a few weeks ago,” she said later as they walked toward her apartment. “He’s so handsome I could hardly breathe when I looked at him. We talked about our future together and the children we would have. He said he loved me, and we planned to be married, so I went to a motel with him several times. It was never on a weekend and we didn’t stay overnight, but I was too happy to wonder why.
“My parents are religious and they live a hundred miles from here. I told them I was seeing someone and expected to marry him. I hoped to take him home to meet them when I got some time off. Then a couple of weeks ago I was late, and before that I had always been regular. So I went to a doctor a couple of days ago to find out if I’m pregnant. He said it was too soon to tell, but I know I am because this has never happened before. I was happy at first, because I thought we would go ahead and get married. Then that night my roommate told me she found out he’s married. She said her sister knows his wife. He came by the next day and wanted me to go to out with him again. I told him if he ever spoke to me again I’d find his wife and tell her everything.
“If I could have found some rat poison I would have swallowed it. I hate him for what he did to me, and I hate myself for being so stupid. I never want to see him again, and he’ll never know I’m having his child. I’m going to keep my baby, so I may have to move to another town where nobody knows me and pretend I’m a widow. My parents will die when they find out.”
“That bastard,” Lonzo thought. “That dirty, low-life scum—using his good looks and fancy airs to seduce a sweet, trusting girl like Cindy. If I could get my hands on him right now, I would break his neck. All the girls think I’m ugly and look for somebody like Caleb or this jerk Howard. Maybe, just maybe, Cindy has learned that good looks don’t count for much. Maybe I have a chance with her now. What have I got to lose?”
“Come to dinner with me tonight. It would do you good to get out, and we can talk.”
“My roommate is away this weekend and I don’t want to be alone. Pick me up at seven thirty?”
“I’ll be here.”
* * *
“Tell me about yourself,” he said later as he started the car. “I want to know all about you from the time you were a little girl.”
Cindy talked and the words poured out. She said she thought she was ugly when she was twelve, because she was skinny with long legs and people called her sloe-eyes. She didn’t realize it was a compliment. Then she learned a sloe is a wild plum that has a dusty, dark-blue color. She was still talking later when they arrived at the restaurant, and she did most of the talking during the meal. Later they had coffee and ice cream at her apartment.
“I can’t believe it’s two o’clock,” Cindy said with a sigh. “Where did the time go? I’ve enjoyed this evening, and I want to sleep late. If you want to come back around two or two thirty in the afternoon, we could go to a movie or something.”
“I’d like that.
Formats Book Details This is a novel about life and romance in the hills of East Tennessee. It features Brian and Rita Taylor, married in 1959, and their three children, Lonzo and Caleb, who are twin boys, and Becky, a daughter. Maureen Kelley, Becky's cousin, also has a romantic role with the star of the college basketball team. Backy has to contend with her college roommate, Hazel, who is a nymphomanic, and with her English professor who is a sexual predator.The time elapsed is more than forty years, beginning at Brian's high school graduation in 1955. The oldest of seven children, Joe White gew up on a hardscrabble farm in Tennessee during the great depression of the 1930s. He was an Army Air Corps pilot during World War II.. After the war and over the years, he worked as a real estate salesman , broker, and investor. In 1953 he joined the U.S. Border Patrol as a GS-6 Trainee and retired 21 years later in grade GS-15. He held positions as Chief of Air Operations, District Director, Assistant Regonal Commissioner, and Chief Intelligence Officer. He gained national recognition in the Patrol as a competitive pistol shooter, and was a firing member of five National champion pistol teams. Years later, after retirement, he was national senior pistol champion six times, age 60 or older, the last time at age seventy. He also worked in the executive suite of the National Rifle Association three and a half years, the last two years as deputy to Harlon Carter. the Executive Vice President and CEO.
About the Book
About the Author
