Conversation

Meghan gets married, with all the grace and elegance that Ali can offer. The after-party, however turns into a rock and roll debacle, all puking in the bushes and howling at the moon. But Ali remains impassive in the face of embarrassment, and he and Meghan become friends. On the other coast Kelleher is growing… Continue reading Episode Fourteen

Back with Marty, Meghan tries yet again to settle into a more structured routine. Which works for a while. But the music still calls, and Meghan still answers, and then, all of a sudden, there is Tommy. With his pony-tail and guitar chops, the temptation is just too great. So, Tommy becomes the wedge that… Continue reading Episode Thirteen

For Jeremy Cross, Saturday night grilling is not going to go exactly as he had planned. Kelleher will see to that. Hardened and trained, no longer the skinny kid assaulted by the lake, Kelleher takes the initiative. But his revenge is not physical, as he (and I) had imagined, but more nuanced, and designed to… Continue reading Episode Twelve

Life has been running smoothly for Kelleher, moving into kind of a groove. But events have a way of adding a few potholes in even a well-paved road; first the gut-punch of illness, then an unexpected turn towards retribution. Like a ghost, Kelleher’s nemesis emerged from the mist, materializing in a parking lot, and becoming… Continue reading Episode Eleven

As it eventually had to, things reached a boiling point between Marty and Meghan. At an opening Marty staged to introduce his new body of work, Meghan had a run-in with one of Marty’s collectors. The next morning’s confrontation between Marty and Meghan became testy, words were exchanged, and Meghan, in anger, moved out. Meanwhile… Continue reading Episode Ten

Back in San Francisco, Meghan has made landfall, settling into the the bedlam and chaos that is Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love. Crashing where she can, pimping stick incense and patchouli oil to earn enough pennies to keep herself fed, Meghan at fifteen is carving out a new life. But with autumn rains and… Continue reading Episode Nine

After his beating, we catch up with Francis at Cape Cod Hospital, where his injuries are assessed, and he is sent home with some pain-killers and a fair-thee-well. When he goes back to school, he enjoys a brief period of notoriety, before disappearing back into the background. The memories linger, however, and Francis has become… Continue reading Episode Eight

For a while, the halcyon days continue, and Francis enjoys a summer of sand, sun and young love. However, summer ended, and autumn proved dark. I’ll let Francis introduce it: It wasn’t as if I had misunderstood my mother’s injuction against going to the arcade. Christ, I was fourteen years old. I understood it alright.… Continue reading Episode Seven

Francis has given us a little insight into his early life. He is solitary, bookish, and smart. But every kid deserves a friend, and Francis will find one in Andy. Nerdy, soft, and as bookish as Francis, he discovers through experience the fate of outsiders in Hyannis. Boys do boy things, although Andy is more… Continue reading Episode Six

So, now we’re going to make a jump in both time and space to Cape Cod, where we will meet Francis, the second of our protsgonists. Francis speaks in his own voice, so we’ll see the world through his eyes, both as experienced, and as remembered. The Cape, like anywhere else I guess, can be… Continue reading Episode Five