School of Marble and Mud
by
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The thought of decapitation scared me out of the house and to the BOWLING bar, where Sheila announced my entrance with a raspy hoot and holler. "Mind Eraser and a beer, baby?" she asked me. I showed her my BOWLING bar membership card. "Not tonight. I'm trying to slow down. Just give me a whisky." Being Monday, it was dead, except for a couple of corpses hunched into the bar smoking and coughing and drinking. "Wanna buy a square for tonight's game?" "How much?" "Dollar." "I've already hit my gambling cap for the year. Just got back from Vegas." "Suit yourself." Sheila fixed my whisky and set it on a napkin in front of me. I sipped it with energetic enthusiasm. "You look a little rattled." "The feminists are out to kill me," I told her. "They want to cut off my head and squat on it." "Sounds like a plan to me, deadbeat," a deep voice said. I felt a hard grip on my left shoulder, then turned around on my stool. It was my neighbor, John. He looked bigger in that dark lighting. "Hey, John," I said. "Let me buy you a drink." John stared at me with furious intent. "I don't want a drink, asshole. I want to be paid for my fence." He pulled a paper out of his jeans and tossed it in front of me. "Three hundred and five dollars and sixty-three cents. Plus, another hundred for pain and suffering."
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About the Book
Jack Manchester, loser, women's shoe salesman-turned substitute teacher, is running from his cheating fiancée with equilibrium problems, a radical feminist group enforcer named Ambrosia, the neighbor who stole his fence, and his psychotic, gun-wielding grandmother.
Most of all, Jack Manchester is running from himself.
With only a few seconds to live, however, Manchester isn't going to run very far without recounting the memories and sorting things out from there.
Through his bitterly witty descriptions and ludicrous tales of debauchery, Manchester attempts to understand and survive in the School of Marble and Mud.
About the Author
Chad Dean began writing stories at an early age. He received a B.A. in Creative Writing from the College of Santa Fe and a M.A. in Professional Development from Amberton University. Dean has held many jobs, two of which include teacher and women's shoe salesman. Although he has spent most of his life in the Dallas, Texas area, Dean has lived in St. Croix and New Mexico. He currently resides with his wife and daughter in Wylie, TX, where he continues to write. The author may be contacted at chaddean99@gmail.com.