Erased, a novel Chapter 27- Farfetched Tayeton-   Her hair is thick and doesn’t move with the wind like my wife’s.   It’s golden brown and sits in rows of waves.   Her skin is some kind of pale, but she’s not dying.   It’s just the powder white complexion that sets her apart from the other Simpletons.   Her eyes are holding firm.   She hasn’t blinked since she virtually handed me my walking papers.   It was the last thing I’d expected from her.   If I ask anyone around here if she has the power to hire or fire, they’ll probably say no.   It’s just not one of the suits I’d ever seen her wear.   Nevertheless, I’ve been let go, and she’s staring at me as if I should be moving already, but I haven’t caught my breath.   Rick’s out.   He’s always out at this time on this day.   Otherwise, I might have thought he was avoiding the matter.   And the matter, as she’d put it, was that I was hired without any qualif...

Erased, a novel Chapter 25- When Given the Opportunity  Veronica- I took a man's life.  He knows it, but we're still here.  I'd heard the name Grace several times.  That was all it was; a suitable name.  A beautiful one actually, but into it I read nothing.  Then all of a sudden when I walked out those doors and left all that steel and metal behind, into it I read much.  Grace didn't show up early either.  I'd served most of my time before a light-hearted wanderer dressed in mismatch patterns and with bouncing shockingly red hair showed up under the title Doctor.  I think she knew I could see her, and it always took her a few moments to gather herself.  Looking in, it just appeared she was gathering her things. My story never changed, I'd settled on it early on, but the heart around it grew and changed in many ways.  The first time she exited the room, I felt a cool breeze, and afterwards for more than a day, a peace grea...

Erased, a novel Chapter 24- Gone Again  Tayeton-  Is a will to live enough to keep you alive? The sea of questions I had about my father, the Simpletons, and Simpleton and Fisher grew by the day.  I'd met and gotten to know my father under a great pretense.  The man I'd met was warm, thoughtful, and generous.  He was a better version than the fictional character on my birth certificate.  The day I learned of his death, a piece of my resolve also died.  It was a confirmation that I had landed in a much greater circumstance than I'd imagined.  It's not the scene you want to be greeted with first thing in the morning, and it's never the scene you'd expect to find as you pull up to work.  The number of squad cars surroundings the building had given the impression that the company was under fire, but two hours after I'd arrived, the quiet of overnight had fallen over the entire company, and with the exception of the usual phone ringing, no o...

Erased, a novel Chapter 23- Final Call Reece-  I've just heard the news. It's hard to say that it has upset my plans because I didn't have any, but now I'm here, I'm going to need some.  I'm not sure how my heart is doing at the moment, I haven't made it that far.  My first thought is to check the account.  It's all there, all three-hundred thousand, and some change.  Now what?  It's not my independence that I'm puzzled about, it's just all of my assignments came straight from his desk, and by desk I mean they were all personal.  I didn't ask lots of questions, but it wasn't long before I realized just how personal.  At times I allowed my mind to wander, and it always went down the moral road.  It's not the kind of road I was ever happy to see.  Mainly because of the growling that rises up, but my fear and resentment doesn't keep it from calling out to me with its bright light.  A few times it came to mind, and I didn...

Erased, a novel Chapter 22- The Girl Next Door Sam- The lights are down.  The room is still.  The Griot has taken a startling turn, and she emphasizes it with a pause.  She's sitting in a rocky chair.  Her hair is wrapped in several pieces of cloth, and she carries the length of them on her head like she's in her homeland and it's a large jug of water.  There's two spotlights; one circles her, and the other, a lesser light falls on a short table beside her.  We're not exactly sure when she got there.  It was sometime between the sounds of beating drums, and the interplay between three groups of dancers.  It's a Friday evening, and the promoters have packed the place.  I'm surprised because it's just a little bigger than the biggest hole in the wall.  I haven't been here before, and I slipped in just before the lights went down.  I thought there would mostly be an Afro centric crowd, but from what I can see there's more of us....

Erased, a novel Chapter 20- In the Shepherd's Care  Mr. Wells- Being in the Shepherd household was like no other household I'd been in.  From the moment Tayeton had dropped me off til now, I could feel a ease come over me.  I'd gotten a good look at Shepherd Engines, and was inspired by all Vance had accomplished.  The moment I stepped into the garage, I was hit with the memory of my father.  He'd been a mechanic from a teen-ager, and he never forgot to mention it.  In fact, there wasn't a thing he didn't know about cars.  He'd never gotten certified or anything, but that never stopped all the folks in our neighborhood from coming by.  It was almost a matter of clock work; every evening around six or so, some one of my friend's parents was knocking at the door.  That usually meant I got a break from my homework, and we'd play in the front lawn.  I didn't start that first day, but Vance had quickly offered me a place at Shepherd Eng...

Erased, a novel Chapter 19- Interdependence  Ketly- There was no way I would give up my independence as a writer, even under the best circumstances.  Over the years I've come to realize that writing is a freedom being under contract tends to erase.  It's the difference in the breath and step of a first book and the second; the difference between the book you write then shop, and the book you write after you've shopped.  Jeff had done a good job at buying us some freedoms, but the columns I write is where I really get a good taste of my independence; where I get to share my ideas and not just tell a story.  After all everyone has a story, and that was just what I was after.  I'd stumbled on a minor article in one of my Writers' monthlies titled, Son.  To my surprise it was about the quiet rivalry between father and son companies Ample Publishing and Simpleton and Fisher.  The news had taken me from stretched across the sofa to upright,...