Losing Patience

Short Story Collection including favorites such as FATTY MATTIE, ONE CHITTENDON DRIVE, UNFORGIVABLE, and JUST HOLD ME

From the Inside Flap

Praise for Joyce Faulkner s stories "Joyce Faulkner's stories show how often violence finds its origin in sentiment: the dull shadows of our daily lives have sharp edges, which cut deeply." . . . James Sallis, author of the Lew Griffin novels "Joyce Faulkner writes with pathos and humor, violence and sensitivity. Faulkner's characters are deliciously devilish, shocking and powerful, yet deeply moral. Through her compendium of disparate tales that shock and amuse, Faulkner shares a view of a world in which honesty in relationships is the ultimate truth." . . . Ken Goldberg, author and psychologist "A good short story sucks you in quickly. Joyce Faulkner creates worlds that absorb you and make you question preconceived notions. At times, her tales remind me of classic episodes of the Twilight Zone." . . . Dominick Miserandino, TheCelebrityCafe.com "Joyce Faulkner's tales engage, touch, and entertain her readers. With a keen eye for dialogue and a talent for developing characters that are real enough to leap off the page, Faulkner delivers prose that is uncommonly exquisite." . . . Bev Walton-Porter, Editor, Scribe & Quill

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

UNFORGIVABLE At first it was just a vibration -- like a distant heartbeat, then the faint smell of smoke. Hedy opened her eyes. Someone stood at the foot of her bed. "Mama?" "I didn t mean to scare you." Alicia Jennings cigarette glowed in the darkness. "Why are you here? Is something wrong?" Hedy could just make out her mother s features in the gloom. "You know why I came back." "Tell him to leave me alone." Hedy pulled the quilt up under her chin. "Comes a time when you have to let go of the past, Hedy. Forgive and forget -- that s what I say." "I don t know how to do that." Hedy avoided Alicia s eyes. "I don t think I can." "He s your father. You owe him." "I do?" "Don t take that tone with me, young lady." Hedy sat up in bed. "How can you defend him after what he did to you? To us?" "That was years ago -- he s paid for that." "Maybe that s not up to you to say, Mama. You don t have to live with it every day." Alicia stubbed out her cigarette in a china dish on Hedy s dresser. "He s changed." "I hope so, for his sake." "You are hard hearted, Hedy -- just like he used to be." Alicia lit another cigarette and exhaled. "Don t do this to me, Mama." Hedy flinched. Smoke wasn t her favorite thing. "Mama?" Alicia was gone. "For God s sake, will this nightmare never end?" Every time her father s case came up for review, Alicia came to plead for him. Something sparkled in the mirror. Hedy threw on her robe and got up. It was the reflection of her mother s lighter setting in the dresser. It was still warm. Holding it against her cheek, she examined her own reflection. The shiny scar started below her right eye, snaked down her jaw, crossed her upper chest and sliced her forearm from elbow to wrist. Time and several surgeries had minimized the grotesquerie, but it was an ugly reminder of the things she learned at her father s knee. Sleep was no longer an option even though it was only six-thirty in the morning. She sighed and dropped the lighter into her robe pocket. In the living room, she curled up in front of the television under a blanket. Clay Jennings s face flashed on the screen. The documentary on his case was on Court TV again. She clicked it off before they showed the famous photograph of Ronnie Kowalski carrying her out of the flames. Thirty-eight years since that night and it was still in her face.

About the Author

Joyce Faulkner, author of Losing Patience, lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Contact her at [email protected]. She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA. Her professional background includes many years in the energy industry first as an engineer, then as the manager of Information Services and finally as director of eCommerce. As both a consultant and a speaker, she focuses on the internet as a business tool. Her writing credits include short stories, novels, feature articles, book reviews and humor. She specializes in using technology to further the goals of writers.

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