During the past two years of living
in San Antonio,
I have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance with several
published authors,
even developing friendships with a few of them. One of these
people is a
wonderful woman by the name of April Love.
She has two works of
fiction currently available for purchase:
Secrets
of a City Bench and Gift of the
Morning.
I recently purchased a copy of both
books to help support
my dear friend and fellow author.
I was blown away by the
story that unfolded before my eyes in Secrets
of a City Bench.
Although the name is quite peculiar, the reason for the
title is fitting.
This is a very real story.
Although
it may be a work of fiction, it is something that happens all too often.
Angie
tries to be strong but she has to deal with the very real consequences of
hiding from her past. She tries to push the past behind her and forget what she
went through
instead of dealing with the pain. She acts out at people who have
never hurt her
simply because of her experiences.
Angie does not know where to
turn for help. Rather than deal with her problems
she longs for pain numbing
sleep. However, in this time of supposed rest her nightmares from the past come
back to haunt her.
Counseling opens the wounds, and fails to let her heal.
Sam wants to rescue Angie.
This is
a tale as old and familiar as time itself.
The hero comes along to save the
damsel in distress.
She allows herself to be rescued and they live happily ever
after, or so he thinks.
Sam’s own past is stained with regret and hardships of
its very own.
Sam, an ex-con, deals with very real problems of his own.
This duo meets under the strangest
of circumstances, but for them it is perfect.
They fall in love eventually getting
married.
Nevertheless, this isn’t your typical love story.
I often found myself asking Angie,
‘Why can’t you just let him love you?’
And Sam, ‘Why is anger your first
response?’
This is a story that makes you root for the under dogs wanting them
both to succeed.
At first, I didn’t feel like the characters were believable
because of the way they interacted with each other.
However, as time unfolds,
the true nature of who they are
and where they come from fill in and it is
easy
to see how someone can get to this point.
I recommend this book to an older
audience
due to the nature of graphic content
and strong language that is
unsuitable for a younger audience.
If you, or someone you know, are a survivor
of a vicious past,
this is a story that will help you to see that you are not
alone in this.
No matter how bad your current situation may be, it can get
better.
Once I began to read Love’s portrayal of this not so ordinary couple,
I could not put the book down.
Below are a couple of excerpts from
Secrets of a City Bench
used with
permission by the author to give you a glimpse inside the cover into the deep
underbelly that so many of us “normal folk” never get to see.
Angie is a girl that has a
troubling past.
After running away from a sexually abusive home,
she finds
herself resorting to a lifestyle of selling herself.
* * * * *
Angie sat at the desk and cried. She
basically hadn’t slept since Sunday because the nightmares had been so bad.
Every time she did drift to sleep, Darlene would have to come and wake her up.
She was back to an all-liquid diet again because every time she tried to eat,
it came right back up again. And the crying never seemed to stop anymore. She
cried so hard the lines on the paper were no longer visible, and her words
became a jumbled mess. Then she would have to stop writing altogether and just
sit there and sob until the pain eased some.
There was a knock at the door, then
Darlene came in. “Are you okay, Angie?”
“Just go away and leave me alone,”
Angie snapped. If she had to be miserable, she at least wanted to be that way
in private.
“I’m worried about you, Angie,” she
continued. “Things seem to be getting worse.”
“No kidding,” Angie said with sarcasm.
Darlene looked away, then tentatively
stated, “You’ll probably be upset with me, but I called Dr. Thatcher.”
“What!” Angie yelled. “He’ll put me in
the state hospital! Why did you do that?”
“I’m sorry Angie,” Darlene said, “but
I felt like I had to. Anyway,” she said, trying to sooth Angie’s wrath, “he
just wants to talk to you on the phone.”
“Great,” Angie snarled as she rose
from the desk. She stomped down the stairs and then violently pushed the
buttons on the phone. Once she got through to Doc, she said coldly, “This is
Angie. What do you want?”
“Darlene’s worried about you,” she
heard Doc say on the other end of the line.
“I’m fine,” she said in anger.
“I’m not convinced.”
“This isn’t fair,” Angie whined.
“All you have to do is convince me
that you’re okay,” Doc said. “Now what’s going on?”
Angie wiped the tears away from her
face and sniffled. “I’m just dealing with some really hard stuff, that’s all.”
All she heard was silenced on the other end. She really didn’t want to go into
it, but she knew Doc wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily. “Look,
Doc,” she begged, “it’s stuff I’ve never told anyone, and after it all
happened, I just pushed it back like it never happened. I had to survive.
Okay?’
“What else?” he asked.
She sighed, “There’s just a lot of
feelings, and they’re really intense, but I’m not going to do anything crazy. I
just need time to get through this. I thought that was why I was here,” she
added with a tint of sarcasm.
“I hear you,” Doc replied. “You’d
better not make me regret my decision to let you stay. Now let me talk to
Darlene.”
Angie handed the phone to Darlene,
then went back upstairs. She was relieved Doc was going to let her stay, but
she had doubts herself. Everything was so overwhelming she didn’t know how much
longer she could continue like this.
She sat at the desk and read what she
had just written minutes before. Shivers ran up her back. She wrote down the
words, “She’s a feisty one, isn’t she?” She had briefly been faced with the
pain, fear, and humiliation when she had the flashback when Mike had said those
words, but she quickly forced herself to forget what had happened, like she had
done every other time it had come up.
But now she knew she couldn’t push it
away anymore. She wrote down everything that had happened. She had been
propositioned by two men.
* * * * *
Sam, a young man also with a sordid
past,
comes across Angie one day near a city bench. It is here that they
develop a relationship. Once a week they meet to talk and share a meal.
* * * * *
“I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m
just waiting on a friend.”
“Yeah, sure,” the officer patronized.
“One who will pay for your services, which just so happen to be illegal.”
Angie saw Sam running toward her. “No,
really, I’m not doing anything wrong.”
“What’s the trouble, Officer?” Sam
asked the policeman.
The policeman turned. “Well, I’ll be.
If it isn’t Sam Trailer. Your parole officer would sure like to hear how you’re
visiting a prostitute.”
“Hello, Officer George,” Sam said
cautiously. “I assure you that I am not involved with anything illegal, sir.
Angie and I are friends. We sit together and eat and talk, but that’s it. And
there’s noting illegal about that.”
“Is that so?” Officer George said, not
convinced.
Sam opened the duffel bag and showed
the officer, “Our supper, sir.”
Looking into it, the officer asked,
“Can I see what else you have in there?”
“Go right ahead.” Sam placed the
contents of the bag onto the bench: three sandwiches, pretzels, two bananas,
Twinkies, a thermos, and Sam’s Bible. Same gave the empty bag to the policeman
who examined it for hidden compartments.
“All right,” the officer said at last,
“but I warn you, I’m keeping my eye on you. And you, too,” he said to Angie.
Turning back to Sam, he continued, “You step out of line just one time, boy,
and I’ll put you back in the joint quicker than you can blink your eye. Do you
understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
The policeman stormed off, throwing
the bag on the ground. Sam bent to pick it up. “That was close.”
When Sam started to sit on the bench,
Angie didn’t follow. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re an ex-con.”
Taking her hand into his, he said,
“Sit down, and I’ll tell you all about it.” He led her to the bench, and they
sat down, Angie keeping a safe distance from him. “I was paroled a year ago
after serving nine years. I went in when I was 16, but I don’t ever plan on
going back.” He closed his eyes, but Angie could see the moisture glistening on
his lashes. “I killed my father,” he whispered.
Angie sucked her breath in. Sam was a
murderer! How? What if he decided to kill again? She wanted to run, but knew
she wouldn’t be able to get away. What had she gotten herself into? And all
because of a little easy money!
* * * * *
Purchase your copy at Amazon
also available at Amazon
by April Love
Also available at Barnes and Noble
also available at Barnes and Noble
by April Love
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