The Moon Around Sarah by Paul Lederer Read Free Book Online

signing!’ Edward said. ‘She wants this all wrapped up even more than you and I do.’
    ‘Yes…’ Dennison fiddled with a gold fountain pen briefly, ‘that still leaves us with problems. After that grand little exhibition here – the fistfight, that is – what about your brother? Will Eric balk?’
    ‘He has no reason to. I know he needs the money. It’s a matter of me finding him, I guess. I doubt he would be willing to come back to the office.’ Edward stood staring out the window where cold, rapid rivulets raced across the dark glass. ‘Damn it, Sal! You know how much I want this wrapped up as well.’
    ‘Yes,’ the attorney said, allowing his swivel chair to spring upright. ‘I do, Edward, but Golden West, as much as they want the property, won’t sit still for endless delays because of your family problems. And I
do
represent them, Edward … I don’t have to remind you that they do have an option on three hundred acres on the other side of Bottleneck Creek.’
    ‘I know, yes,’ Edward said impatiently.
    ‘And,’ Dennison reminded his fellow lawyer, ‘I do have other business to conduct in this office. Please understand me….’
    ‘I do understand you,’ Edward said sharply.
    ‘I was given to understand that everyone could amicably and in his own best interest, execute the contracts. I do not understand how deeply the rape.…’
    ‘The contracts will be executed! Today!’ Edward flared up.He was immediately apologetic about his burst of anger. He had sworn years ago that he would repress any tendencies toward the sort of fury that was his father’s terrible flaw. ‘Sorry, Sal,’ Edward added, ‘I’ll find them. I’ll hand-carry the contracts. If they can’t sit down together for half an hour to get this done, I’ll see to it that they sign individually.’
    ‘Today?’ Dennison asked dubiously.
    ‘Today. Yes – that’s what I said, isn’t it? I’ll have Father’s and Aunt Trish’s signature within ten minutes. She’s downstairs ; he’s out in the car. I’ll find Eric.’
    ‘And do you know where your mother is, Edward? I mean, this is quite serious, wouldn’t you say?’
    ‘I know how to find her,’ Edward said tightly. ‘Don’t worry, Sal, you have no idea how much I want to get this all over and done with.’
    And be gone from this miserable town. And live a life in which contact with his sad, broken and damned family was limited to an exchange of Christmas cards.
    Sal Dennison had reached into his desk drawer and now he removed a fresh sheaf of legal-sized documents which he pushed across the desk, his eyes cast down.
    ‘The commitment papers, Edward.’ Sal said, still not lifting his eyes to Edward’s.
    ‘Yes, yes,’ Edward said. He snatched up Dennison’s gold pen and removed the cap shakily. He signed all three copies with rapid flourish.
That
was done at least. One less thing to worry about. If the rest of this mess wasn’t resolved soon, Edward thought they might come and drag
him
off to an institution.
    ‘I’ll find them,’ Edward promised, picking up the stack of bound contracts to stuff them into his normally carefully-ordered briefcase. Then, with an unseen nod, he went out of Dennison’s office, leaving the bemused attorney to sit staring at the commitment papers Edward Tucker had just signed, before he tossed them into the wire basket on his desk with a shrug, and buzzed Sylvia to ask for coffee.

    The sea was Eric’s emotional brother, his mentor. Wildly flailing and churning, ranting against the pilings of the dark pier and the never-changing, precariously brooding, black bluffs stretching far into the northern distances. It slashed bitterly against the bracings of the long, empty, desolate pier where no other soul existed. Only Eric’s own dark sea-soul – ravaged by the bitter storm – churned to wild, eternal, unpredictable motion. A single lost gull white and shrieking; an endless battering of rain and the inflexible cycle of the sea