Savage Noir

Chapter 9 That night, to dispel my churlish mood, I walked through the heart of the Mission on 24 th     Street. The brightly lit bodegas and little grocery stores and shops usually lifted my spirits.          It didn’t work.          I bought a small bouquet for Colin’s wife, which helped a little. After that I crossed above the freeway on the 23 rd Street bridge, which left me in my old neighborhood on Portrero Hill. Our family’s old two-bedroom white house had survived the wrecking ball, unlike others. It was always a shock to see Colin’s unmarked Crown Vic parked in the driveway. It shrieked “Cop!”          I was nervous about seeing Linda nee Bellini, my old girlfriend in high school. I could feel my heart beat faster as I rang the doorbell.          Linda opened the door immediately, as if she had seen me coming.          Her face lit up when she saw me. She seemed even more beautiful than before, with her brown eyes and dark skin. Still the kind of gal Irish m

Dear Reader: The rest of this final draft is formatted for a p.d.f.  document. The page numbers will be at the bottom of each page. Enjoy! Chapter 8 Jason Powers sipped coffee as he peered through the window of his prefab cabin in the woods. A serape hung from his shoulders. Outside, Sheena tended the fire. He noticed she was wearing her Raiders cap today. She was not a fan. Each of his girls had a cap or two and some of them were downright childish, he thought. He insisted that they wear them when they went into town. Bald women were too noticeable—especially two or them. The campfire, the grill and the curling smoke, the three sunlit tents curving into a crescent—all of it should have made for a perfect morning. But no. Rainbow, the youngest of his family, had fucked up again. Just now a dark cloud slid toward them. Soon it would cast a grey pall over everything. As if things aren’t fucked up enough. The hell of it was, he liked R