Mirrors Tell No Lies
Ashton Taylor Sperling looks in the mirror and wonders what has happened to his wonderful, happy life. But, mirrors never lie: he is what happened to it. As hard as he tried, letting go of the past was never an option. Consumed by vengeance, he triggers a series of events that will change the lives of his perfect family forever. The only thing left for him to do now is to settle the score, finally, and then live with the consequences -- or die.
Soon to be Released in Print Form- January 2012
EXCERPT
EXCERPT
“BOBBY,
ARE YOU listening to me?” Ray was strapping on his gun. It wasn’t easy being the guardian of an 11
year-old boy. It was just the two of
them now. Bobby’s mother had taken the
wrong path early, and left the screaming baby behind with a note attached. After ten years of raising the boy alone, he
was still trying to cope with his daughter’s actions. He would never have guessed she would have
turned out like that. It was the drugs,
he told himself. But, he knew it was
more than that. It was being without a
mother herself all those years, too.
“Bobby!”
Ray pinned his gold star on his uniform and slid into his heavy jacket. Winter had come early fall this year. It was freezing outside in the Mesa.
“I
heard you, Grandfather,” Bobby whined as he made his way in front of the television
set to watch Saturday morning cartoons.
“Do
NOT leave the house. Do NOT let anyone
into the house while I’m gone,” Ray said, hoping the words would sink in to his
grandson’s brain. Bobby had inherited
his mother’s stubborn gene. Ray knew the
minute his back was turned Bobby would push the envelope, but, this morning, he
didn’t have a choice. Of all days, the
state troopers had chosen a Saturday to pick up his latest prisoner, a bad
biker who had been wreaking havoc robbing liquor stores and shooting their
clerks all over the state. His buddies had gotten away, and Ray wanted to get
him out of their little town as swiftly and as quietly as possible.
“Why
can’t I go outside?” Bobby
protested. He had been protesting since
he woke up and found out his grandfather was leaving him behind. Bobby wanted to go into town to find more
stuff to put around his volcano, as he was determined to win that $25 gift
certificate at the science fair. He had
had so much fun with his grandfather the night before putting it together. Now, all he needed was a few more rocks and a
few objects to get knocked over in the lava pool.
“We
will go looking for rocks when I get back and I will get back as soon as I
can.” Ray put his hand on the doorknob and looked back at his sulking
grandson. He even looks like her when he sulks, he thought.
“Do
NOT leave this house, Bobby,” Ray said one last time as he walked out the door.
Bobby
got up and turned the television up as he heard his grandfather’s truck pull
out of the driveway. He sat there eating
dry cereal from a box through three cartoons.
Bored, Bobby walked into the kitchen and stared out at the barren
pasture. There were rocks all over, any
one of them he could pick up and paint black to make it look like lava
rocks. He only needed a few.
Bobby
went back to his homemade volcano and marveled at the progress he and his
grandfather had made the night before.
Pulling out the baking soda, he thought about testing the ingredients
for the eruption one more time, but decided against it, and put the baking soda
back in the cabinet and stared out the window again.
This
was his project, and he wanted to be the one to pick out the right rocks. He wanted them to have little holes in them
like the ones in the pictures, but Bobby knew if his grandfather was with him,
he would have to settle for the ones his grandfather thought would be just
right. Bobby thought about it long and
hard and, then, ran into his bedroom and got dressed.
He
had heard his grandfather talking to the state troopers and they weren’t going
to be there until around noon and it was only about ten o’clock, so Bobby had
plenty of time. He thought he could run
out, find the right rocks, and hide them.
Later, when his grandfather helped him pick out rocks, he could sneak in
his replacements while they were painting them black. Yeah, he thought, that will work.
Bobby
dressed warm in layers, not wanting to give himself away by catching a
cold. He pulled on a wool hat and found
something to prop the back door open so he would be sure not to lock himself
out. He ventured around in the fenced-in
pasture. It was all dirt with a few
patches of weeds here and there, with little grass to offer any livestock. They lived above the tree line; vegetation
didn’t get much air or water up here.
Just a lot of rocks, a few sturdy trees, bushes, and mountain
ranges. Bobby kicked around the dusty
grounds and found nothing to his liking.
He started thinking about the other side of the road. He knew his grandfather would have a fit if
he crossed that road, but Bobby suspected there were great rocks on the other
side.
Venturing
over the fence that separated Ray’s property from the two-lane highway, Bobby
stared across the road where there was nothing but cliffs and deep
ravines. He realized he couldn’t cross
from the angle where he was standing, as there was a deep, blind curve. A car or a truck would overtake him and he
wouldn’t have a chance.
Bobby
walked down the long line of poles and barbed-wire fence until he came to an
area of the road that was straight. If
he crossed, he could see cars coming from either side. He stood there and stared. Just across that road was a wide enough patch
to be called a shoulder on the road with part of a dead-looking tree sticking
out of the side of the cliff. Beyond
that was a long way down. Bobby knew
that he would have to be extremely careful, but he also knew there would be
some prime rocks over there.
The
boy climbed through the fence, stood against one of the poles, and looked both
ways several times. He saw nothing,
heard nothing. Then, he took a deep
breath and ran across the road, skidding as he lost his balance on the loose
rocks that covered the shoulder. The
dead tree stopped his descent.
“Whoa,”
he screamed, his heart throbbing from the excitement of coming so close to the
edge. “Whoa,” he said again,
congratulating himself now for surviving his adventure.
He
looked with disappointment at the rocks beneath his feet. They looked like the same rocks in his
backyard across the road. He kicked at
them absent- mindedly and began to think about getting back across the
road. He put his arm on the tree,
glanced over the edge to see where he would have fallen, just so he could tell
his friends about his adventure Monday morning in school. And then, he saw him.
In
the only large limb left on the tree that had died several years back, a man
hung vicariously and bloodied. Bobby
closed his eyes twice. Then, he looked
down again. The man was still there.
Bobby
began to run toward town. He was afraid
to go back across the road, but he was afraid to go back home with a dead man
hanging in the tree across the road from his house.
Bobby
had run about a mile when a tow truck passed him and then pulled over to the
side. Manny, who was just returning from
transporting the biker’s motorcycle for the sheriff, jumped out of the truck
and ran back to Bobby.
“Boy,
what are you doing out here on the road?
I know the sheriff don’t know you are out here. Get in that truck and let me take you home before
you get us both killed,” Manny yelled.
“There’s
a dead man back there,” Bobby yelled back.
“Stop
lying, boy,” Manny said. He had known
Bobby since he was a baby and knew the boy was inclined to stretch the truth.
“I’m
not lying, Manny. Go see for yourself.”
“What
are you doing out here anyway?”
“There’s
a dead man, Manny. I saw him. He’s hanging from the tree.”
