SAYATA

FLAME BY THE SEA

by

Charles Thomas Peters jr.

Copyright 1993 Charles Thomas Peters jr.

I hope you enjoy the stories The Suspense Account and Flame By The Sea. Although each book sort of stands on its own, they are part of the same story. Together the books are roughly 237,264 words. The Suspense Account is 21 Chapters. Flame By The Sea is 34 Chapters.

Flame By The Sea begins with Meredith Menorah standing over the body of her husband, Preacher Bertram. He is naked and she knows it is not singing he has been doing up in the Choir Loft. Meredith Menorah is scared that people in Portabay will think she has murdered her husband. Then she considers what if no one thinks she has killed her husband. Is it possible she might be able to live a normal life with her true love Silencer Raveen.

But she knows that the people in Portabay will judge her harshly. She decides she will kill herself.

From Book:

A cold chill fell over Meredith Menorah and a strangeness gripped her soul. Sadly, she opened the white marble door from the choir loft and slowly descended the long column of steps to the bottom. Shaking, she stared out over the pews and with her heart pounding each step, she walked toward the anterior of the church. Then feeling as though she had walked a hundred miles, she reached the large, colossal doors at the egress arch. Just as she grasped for one of the doors and was about to open it, a cold hand touched her shoulder.

"Molly."

Meredith Menorah turned to meet a wet kiss upon her mouth. She yanked herself away, and not knowing what to think, she stared at young Frenchy Dean.

Frenchy said, "I'm sorry. I was supposed to meet Molly here and. . . ."

Meredith Menorah looked at Frenchy and shook her head. "Silencer's sister? Why on earth would she meet you here of all places?"

Frenchy glanced down. "She said there was something she wanted to show me here at the church." Then Frenchy looked into Meredith Menorah's eyes.

Meredith Menorah puzzled, "I wonder."

Suddenly, a voice bellowed from the choir loft. "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: The coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame."

Frenchy asked, "Does he always get this loud when he is rehearsing a sermon?"

Meredith Menorah looked away from Frenchy Dean. She hesitated. Then she whispered, "He's dead."

Frenchy laughed, "What?"

Meredith Menorah took Frenchy by the hand and looked into his eyes. "I'm not kidding. Someone has murdered him. And now they, or somebody, is doing a damned good impression of his ghost. I don't know why they are doing it. I don't know why he was murdered. But Frenchy, everyone is going to think I murdered my husband."

____

The Second Chapter jumps to the future.

From Book:

Six hundred feet below Sounder's bluff the sun worshipers lay listening to the ocean, listening to the breeze blowing-cooling their blistering bodies--and listening to their friends cavorting in the surf and frolicking on the beach. But they couldn't hear the loud screams coming from the beautiful church on the bluff, for the lamentations were forty years in the past.

White sand glittered in Daniel's jet black hair as he lay close to where he had fallen. Sixteen year old Daniel Hudson lay wasted on the seashore from the party on the beach the night before. His state was due to a bottle of liquor, the bottle Kay Benton hit him over the head with when he tried to seduce her. A simple no and slap across the face would have been enough for him to have left her alone. But Kay had taken great pleasure in breaking the bottle over Daniel's head. She hadn't taken his tempts of seduction seriously. She thought he was making fun of her, and she had had enough. She was tired of people taunting her.

As Daniel's heels sank into the ocean's sand and the tide sucked at his feet, a child's baseball popped against Daniel's chest and rolled between his legs. But Daniel felt nothing. He remained oblivious to all except that which flashed through his mind. Unconscious, thoughts of his grandmother raced through his dreams. Daniel could hardly believe she was missing. He could still picture her plainly in front of the fireplace and rocking in her rocking chair. She use to stare for hours at images of the red, yellow, and blue flames flickering shadows on the pale white walls of the room. Her spectacles would slip to the end of her tiny nose and her red rosy flowered bonnet would fall over her eyes just as she would start to doze off. The sounds of her swearing and damning the wire frame glasses and colorful bonnet could be no better than a memory, if Daniel's worst fear proved true.

As a little boy raced to retrieve his baseball, Daniel heard nothing. He felt nothing as the boy accidentally kicked sand in his face.

The boy stared at Daniel as he reached down to pick up his baseball. "Sorry mister," the boy said, "the ball kind of got away from me. It must have hurt like hell when it hit you. That Tommy throws a mean ball. But that's all that is mean or tough about Tommy. That chicken shit took off running like a bat out of hell after he hit you. Tell you the truth, I was kind of reluctant to come over here myself. I didn't know how mad you were going to be. But I figured what the hell, this baseball cost me some money."

The boy scrutinized Daniel who had not heard a word. The boy scratched his head. "Say mister, you trying to play dead, to frighten me, to get even. Honest. We didn't mean to hit you. Honest to God, it was an accident." The boy sat down next to Daniel. The boy asked, "You okay mister?" Nervously the boy took hold of Daniel's wrist and said, "God, please have a pulse." The boy sighed in relief, "Shoo!" The boy stood up and looked over at his sister. Then he looked back down at Daniel. The boy thought a moment and said, "You're alive, but I'm afraid you might be badly hurt. I better go tell my sister about you."

The boy ran over to his sister. "Sis, there is a man over there and I can't wake him."

His sister ignored him. The boy pulled at the top of her swimsuit to get her attention. When the top of her suit came off, he not only got her attention but everyone else's as well. Wolf whistles seemed to come from everywhere as she turned a bright red.

Quickly, she grabbed the top of her swimsuit from her brother and put it back on. Then she started screaming at her poor, befuddled brother. "Timmy! Timmy! How could you? How could you, my own brother, take part in this conspiracy against me? Who put you up to this?"

The boy pointed toward Daniel and said, "I was just trying to tell you that he. . . ."

Before Timmy could finish telling his sister about the man being unconscious, she stormed over toward Daniel without listening to what her brother was saying. As she neared Daniel and saw who it was, she screamed, "I should have known it was you. Your making a lewd pass at me during the party last night was not bad enough; you had to bribe my brother to let the entire world see how small my boobs are."

______

If you read more than 50% of The Suspense Account & Flame By The Sea then I hope you like it well enough to purchase. Much thanks for your reading.

The Two e-Books Cost $3.99 together. We do not currently have these books available in either hardback or paperback.

You May Make Your Purchase for Book Here.

Purchase The Suspense Account & Flame By The Sea from inwoodsinrutledge.com