aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

by Josh Aterovis

© 2003 Josh McCready

All rights reserved

Publishers Note: This book is a work of fiction based entirely on the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental. Real places mentioned in the book are depicted fictionally and are not intended to portray actual times or places.

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ii

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

— Hosea 8:7

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REAP THE WHIRLWIND

PROLOGUE

I opened the door and stepped into the well-appointed office, closing the door behind me. The room was intimately lit by incandescent table lamps instead of institutional fluorescent overhead lighting. An oriental design rug covered the floor, and two upholstered armchairs sat facing a massive dark-colored wooden desk. Glass-fronted oak bookcases lined the walls. Behind the desk sat a small man, slightly balding, wearing a dark brown, high quality suit and glasses.

“Hello, Will,” he said, “It’s been a while.”

“Yes,” I said simply.

“Sit down, please,” he motioned toward the chairs and smiled encouragingly. I sat down on the closest one.

“What’s on your mind?” he prompted.

“You said when I was ready to talk to call you.”

“And you’re ready to talk now?”

I nodded.

“Why now and not before?”

I shrugged.

“Just ready? Or did something happen that made you change your mind?”

“Something happened...”

He sat, waiting for me to elaborate.

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“I don’t even know where to begin,” I said. “So much has happened since I saw you last. I need to talk to someone. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“Will,” he said softly, “you are not going crazy. Instead of starting at the end and working back, why don’t we start at the beginning? Pretend we’ve never talked before. Tell me everything.”

The beginning. It seemed like so long ago now. Could it really have been only a few months? “That could take a while,” I said.

He shrugged and pushed a button on his intercom.

“Yes?” the receptionist answered.

“Linda, cancel the rest of my afternoon appointments, please.”

“Yes, sir,” she answered.

He looked up and smiled, his kind eyes radiating understanding. “Now we’ve got plenty of time,” he said to me.

I took a deep breath.

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REAP THE WHIRLWIND

CHAPTER ONE

Nothing can stay the same forever. We get in trouble in life when we think it can and will. Everything changes, or as King Solomon said in the Bible and The Byrds sang in the ’60s, to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. It’s not a particularly easy lesson to learn, or a fun one for that matter. I learned it the summer between high school and college, and my life would never be the same.

***

We burst into the house, laughing and shoving each other playfully. We were both sweaty from playing bas-ketball on the driveway. The black macadam drew heat like a magnet. For what must have been the millionth time I looked at Joey and thought about how different we were. We were a study in contrasts, a true testament to the old adage that opposites attract. We’d been best friends since we were toddlers, but we couldn’t have been more different. Joey was tall, a little over six feet, and I was...well, short. If I wore my Airwalks with the thick soles I just managed to eke out 5’6”. He has poker-straight pale blonde hair that he wears cut off bluntly just above his shoulders. Today he had pulled it back into a ponytail but half of it had fallen down and was 5

JOSH ATEROVIS

stuck now to his face. My black hair was so curly I had to keep it cut short or it sprung out into an afro. Joey has a year-round tan that darkened to a golden brown on the first day of summer. I have pale white skin that burns over and over, never tans, turns an unflattering shade of red if you even look at me funny, and breaks into freckles across my nose at the first hint of sunlight.

Joey has these huge puppy-dog brown eyes while mine are a deep blue. Actually, my eyes are my favorite feature. They are so dark they are almost violet, and these incredibly long black lashes frame them. My other best friend, Laura, is always saying that she would kill to have my eyes.

The differences didn’t end at the physical, however.

Even our personalities were polar opposites. Joey was gregarious while I was shy. He was caught up in popularity games while I was content to hide in the background. Joey took everything at face value and rarely looked deeper while I tended to be introspective, always looking for a deeper meaning.

Laura, Joey and I were almost inseparable all through high school. We’d grown up in the same neighborhood and played together since we were old enough to walk.

Everyone at school had called us the three musketeers.

Since we’d graduated though, things had started to change. We didn’t see each other nearly as much as we used to. Laura had met Gabriel, or Gabe as he preferred, and they had started dating. Over the summer, they had grown closer and closer. I had been dating Beth on and off all through high school and I guess you could say things were semi-serious between us. Beth was from the neighborhood, too, and while she had never really been a part of our little clique she’d been around enough 6

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that when we had started dating no one was really surprised. She was a year younger than the rest of us, but she was always the most serious one in the bunch.

The latest blow to the three musketeers had taken place two weeks ago when Joey and Laura started college at Pemberton University, a local school here in town. Both had been accepted at other schools, but picked Pemberton when I decided to take a year off to work before going to college. My main reasoning behind this decision was that I hated school and really couldn’t see jumping right into more studying just as soon as I was finished with high school. Actually, my intense dislike of school had less to do with the aca-demics, I’d always gotten above average grades with very little effort, and much more to do with the fact that I never did well in the complex social environment that was the public school system. So Joey and Laura had stayed in order to keep the musketeers intact. The only problem was I had hardly seen them since classes took up. Today was the first day Joey and I had really been able to spend together. I was surprised how much I missed him and without thinking, I suddenly grabbed him in a tight hug.

“Dude!” he said pushing me away roughly. “What the hell was that for?”

“Language!” my mother called from the next room.

Joey rolled his eyes and I shrugged. “I dunno,” I answered, choosing to ignore my mother. “I guess I just miss you.”

“Yeah, well, I miss you too, but you know I don’t like all that touchy-feely stuff.”

That was another difference between Joey and me. I was from a very affectionate family and I wasn’t afraid 7

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to show my affection; Joey was very reserved emotionally, the typical macho man who never shows his feelings.

“Let’s get something to drink,” he said as he headed for the kitchen, dribbling the ball as he went.

“Don’t bounce the ball in the house,” Mom called.

I trailed after him, mentally kicking myself all the while.

“God! When are you going to get out of here?” he said as soon as we were in the kitchen. “It’s like we’re still twelve. You make enough at your job that you could get an apartment; especially if you had a roommate.”

“I would definitely need a roommate,” I told him. “I don’t make that much. So that means it’s pretty much out of the question.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t really know anybody.”

“Well, it just so happens that I do.”

My eyes lit up. “You?”

“No, not me, dumb ass. You know every penny I make goes right to ye olde tuition fund.” I felt my face heating up and knew I was turning red. Thankfully, Joey had his back toward me as he hunted in the fridge for something cold. He came out with a carton of orange juice, grabbed two glasses out of cabinet, and proceeded to pour OJ all over the counter as he tried to get it in both glasses at once.

“Jeez, Joey, wreck the kitchen why don’t you,” I com-plained.

“You sound just like your mom,” Joey grumbled as he mopped up his mess with a towel. “Anyway, as I was saying, there’s this guy at school, his name’s Aidan, and he has this two-bedroom apartment so he’s look-8

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ing for a roommate. I told him I’d ask you.”