One Step

By: Sloopy Samual

College kids, Connor and Allie are lost. As they travel home, they are guided by a mysterious voice. Their journey brings mystery, romance and love.Excerpt: Connor remembered a writing assignment he had in high school. "Where Were You When You Died?" That was the title he had to use. He had to describe it with sensory images. Connor thought it was ridiculous. He was bulletproof. At 17, death was an uncle from another country. He knew about him, vaguely, but he never visited. He was a story, a myth. Death was just an idea. His peers had fun with the assignment, letting their adolescent minds go crazy. Many alluded to sex. Of course, this did not go over well with Ms. Hatton, the former nun-turned English teacher. "Come on class. Use your imaginations. We are all part of a cosmic accident called life," she would say, cheering us on. "Think outside the box. Don't let your death be ordinary." She made the class write an obituary detailing their death. She made her students read poems about boys dying young. Connor remembered part of one; he had to memorize and recite it to the class which he did somewhat successfully. It's amazing what we remember and what we forget from the past, he thought. The poet's name was A.E. something. "The time you won your town the raceWe chaired you through the market-place;Man and boy stood cheering by,And home we brought you shoulder-high.Today, the road all runners come,Shoulder-high we bring you home,And set you at your threshold down,Townsman of a stiller town.Smart lad, to slip betimes awayFrom fields where glory does not stay,And early though the laurel growsIt withers quicker than the rose."Connor remember one line in particular: "...Today, the road all runners come." Connor understood now what this meant. Death. We all step that direction, whether it's on a sprint, like the kid in the poem, or as an old man, cane in hand, limping instead of walking. One step at a time, closer to the grave. Just because we don't think about death, doesn't mean death is not thinking about us. Connor remembered all of this, the poem, the assignment, Ms. Hatton, especially the words, "Today, the road all runners come...," just as a man started shooting. Strange how fast those moments rushed back to him. Strange how life could be fast and slow at the same time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 172668900X
• ISBN13: 9781726689007
• Release Date: October 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.6" x 5.8"