Gone the Sun
A Novel
by
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Amazingly, it's been over thirty years since I drove away from Kanuga for the last time, yet every day of that summer is as clear to me now as it was then. For instance, the night of York Stewart's ghost story. Taps long gone, tucked safely under our covers, while York, sitting up in his bed, his flashlight shining under his chin, gave us his version of THE MONKEY'S PAW, his voice croaking and shaking in terror as he spoke. It was early July, 1975. "Knock...knock...knock. Someone.....something was pounding on the front door." York paused for dramatic effect as the rest of us lay ,blankets pulled up to our chins, our eyes closed, making fantastic mind pictures of what he was saying. "The old woman rushed to the door. 'My son', she cried, 'my son is back. Get out of my way, but her husband, looking out of the window saw not the strong, healthy body of their beloved son, but rather the reality of what he had become after falling into the threshing machine and having been dead for two weeks, brought back to life only by their wishing on the paw. 'Don't open the door', the old man screamed, his voice filled with terror and dread, but his wife pushed him aside and began fumbling with the locks." Here York summoned a voice that to this day gives me shivers when I think of it. "' Muuuuuuuthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhher,' a voice on the other side of the door wailed. "'Where are you muuuuuthhhhhhhher?' The son's dead, rotting fist hit the door again." York's voice rose. "Booooom.........Boooooom...boooooooom." "I'm coming, my son,' the old woman cried, 'mother is coming.'" BOOOOOOOM........BOOOOOM.........BOOOOOM. The old woman's shaking hand finally undid the last lock as her husband struggled to pull her away, and threw open the door. There, in front of her, stood not the handsome young son whom she loved, but a grotesque, gory, slime coated, putrefied mass of blood and guts, eyeballs hanging from their sockets, worms creeping over its face, slowly moving toward her, a hideous smile on what used to be his lips, his arms outstretched, reaching for her. 'Mutttttthhhhhher. Muttttthhhhhhhher. Come kiss me mutttther.' The old woman thought her heart would stop in horror, but instead, she opened her mouth and........" At that moment, without any warning, York leapt from his bed and let loose the most blood curdling scream I had ever heard. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Our screams of real terror joined with his as we all jumped out of our beds, howling and racing about, scared out of our minds. Of course we woke the whole camp and were docked from evening activities for a week, but God it was worth it! Who would have known that years later, the first time I would tell a ghost story, this story, would be about York? Yet I need no monkey's paw to bring York back. He has never left. I was there when he died, I saw him die, and the moment will haunt me for the rest of my life.
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About the Book
For the sixteen year olds attending Camp Kanuga in the summer of 1975, it is supposed to the best summer of their young lives. They are finally upper seniors at the camp, and they are going to make the best of it. But without warning, tragedy strikes, and its effects will haunt five campers for the rest of their lives.
There is Gavin Stewart, a twin who lives in his brother’s shadow. There’s Andrew “Apple” Brookman, the jokester whose life is changed by loss. There’s Henry Sturtz, the rich boy whose words can be deadly. There’s Leonard “Pulitzer” Dorff, the poor boy sent to spend a summer in a world he can only dream about. And there’s Nicki Polis, the girlfriend of the golden boy who is privy to a secret that will change all of them.
Gone the Sun traces the lives of these individuals over the course of thirty-five years, finally bringing them together again in a meeting where truth and illusion must be separated and secrets and lies exposed. It’s a story about a bunch of kids who thought they knew it all at sixteen and how that hubris changed the course of their lives.
About the Author
Jeff Laffel has been a film critic and interviewer, lyricist, playwright, and educator. He is a teacher emeritus from the Elmont, New York school district. This is his debut novel.
Michael Klepper is the author of three previous books and founded Michael Klepper Associates public relations firm. He has one son and lives in Manhattan.