This is Chapter One at the moment.

Joe Monroe woke with a feeling of dread. He rolled over in his wide bed. The bed was cold and empty next to him. The sun hit him in the face with a harsh glare coming in from surface of the river and in through his bedroom window. The reflection of the sun’s rays on the river swirled on his ceiling and crashed on to his face.

Most of New York was already awake if it had ever gone to sleep in the first place. Like the song says, “it never sleeps.” Joe was among the late risers. He was a nine to five guy while many in the city seemed to never sleep six hours let alone eight. “Where was Suzan?” He wondered. He listened intently for the usual morning sounds of running water or doors creaking. He didn’t hear the shower running or the usual rattling of kitchen ware.

A bottle of Scotch sat on the night stand next to the bed covered in crumpled sheets with Joe lying naked under them. He spied another glass on Suzan’s nightstand across from him. It seemed like it was a mile away. The sight sent a flash of a memory through his muddy brain and he remembered the fight.

He looked down quickly to his soft hands. They bore no scratches or signs of injury. He hoped that they hadn’t come to blows again. He was still rebooting the rest of the memories from the night before. Then, suddenly, it all came rushing back to him and he sat instantly, bolt upright in bed. “What the hell had he done?” he wondered.

He reached for the pack of cigarettes on his night stand next to the bottle. Some of the whiskey had spilled on to the night stand and the smell was on the pack of cigarettes now. That smell almost made him sick. He found his lighter where it always was. On his side of the light on the nightstand. He lit a cigarette and inhaled the morning’s first deep breath of grey smoke that filled his lungs with that magic mix of toxic chemicals of tar and nicotine. As those chemicals entered his blood stream, he started to remember more.

He and Suzan had had another fight last night over their wedding plans and the large and growing debt that he now carried. Much of the argument was about the new loan that Suzan wanted Joe to take out to cover more of the cost of their large and detailed wedding plans. Suzan wanted a large affair with all of the trimmings like that of Princess Dianna Spencer in particular, or so Joe thought.

Joe tried to reason with her about the spiraling costs. “If we spend thousands of dollars on the ceremony it will just put us deeper in debt than we already are.” “I want a special wedding Joe. It has always been my dream,” she retorted. “That costs money Joe. All our family and friends will be there, and your boss as well. It’s a direct reflection of our commitment to each other.” Joe listened as he had so many times before when this topic came up. “I’m already paying on our new life insurance policies incase something happens to me or you after we are married. And I still have my rent and all my other expenses to cover. It is starting to feel like I’m drowning in debt, sometimes,” he had told her with a shrill voice.

Those insurance policies will help the one left behind if something happens to one of us. I don’t want to live in an apartment in this city for the rest of our lives.” “But Suzan, six hundred thousand dollars on each of us seems a little excessive, don’t you think?” “The cost of living just keeps on going up Joe, and buying those policies now actually will save us money in the long run.”

Joe knew all about Suzan’s spending habits. They had talked about them over and over again. They were less than restrained and not as modest as their financial circumstances required, or so Joe had thought for sometime. he had mentioned this to her last night as he had in the recent past.

“We already have a good sized pile of debt dear, can’t you just keep your spending down just a little? We shouldn’t add to it without good reason.” The conversation didn’t go well after that statement. He remembered more of the argument then.

Joe rolled over and soon found his feet on the floor. The hard wood was cool on the bottom of his feet. He climbed out of bed and stood up. He scanned the room saw the closet door was open. The larger half of the closet was now empty. Bits and pieces of Joe’s clothing sat on the dusty floor where they had fallen as Suzan had quickly and quietly threw her belongings into her now, missing suitcases. They usually sat in the far corner of her side of the closet.

Susan’s suitcases were attractive and very expensive, unlike Joe’s which were very cheap and had seen little of the world except for rough places and hard times in the city. They were as worn and battered as he was.

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So, that’s Chapter One completed. I have had some knee issues lately and now feel able to try and play tennis this morning after a month so I’m off.

And oh yes, we have a wild and crazy trip coming up in April. Have you read about our trip to North Korea here on my website? We were there for three weeks just before the Olympics in China. We were also at the Olympics in Greece. Those stories and more are here as well.

The finished Chapter Two will arrive tomorrow.

Don’t forget that I have three books on Audible for your listening pleasure.