John T. Cullen has authored over 20 books, including The Generals of October (Simon & Schuster, 2004)—pulse-pounding political-military suspense fiction set in a near-future U.S. Constitutional crisis.
|
John T. Cullen also writes screenplays, including one for Nebula Express (adapted from his SF novel) and the violent, darkly glistening, utterly strange tale of a serial killer in Scorpion.
|
If you like what you read here, please send at least two other avid readers here so a growing readership can enjoy these books. That would be a great, painless, easy way to provide a huge assist. If you'd like to do more...click.
|
The Christmas Clock a holiday fantasy for everyone
by John T. Cullen
|
|
6. ESCROW DIDN'T HAPPEN
"Here we are," Jarlid said as he parked under a towering billboard advertising Rose Attar's Grand Self-Storage. Getting the key from the service desk, Jarlid led Arthur to a storage unit far back amid snowy hills and pine forests under moonlight.
"There it is," Arthur said as they stood looking at the magnificent Louis XIV clock. His breath escaped in ragged wisps as he looked up at the glittering sign whose frame was filled with snow. In his right hand, in the warmth of his pocket, he tightly held the trainman's watch Major Jarlid sold him. He was excited by the night's adventure and looking forward to seeing his other acquisition.
"I'll need the money right now," Jarlid said. He gripped Arthur's upper arm in a vise-like grip. "I have no more time to waste on idle conversation."
"Ouch! I beg your pardon." Arthur was stunned. He had visions of calling an escrow firm the next day to arrange a proper, supervised exchange. The clock would stand on a carpeted floor, and Arthur would sit with his check book at a table right next to it, and Jarlid opposite Arthur at the table. Jarlid would have to wait a bit in his impatience. He shook Jarlid's iron grip away.
Jarlid, however, was insistent. He stepped directly in front of Arthur and regarded him with large, hypnotic eyes. "My dear Arthur," said Major Jarlid, "you will write me a check, and you will do so right now. Then I will disappear from your life, and you will forget all about me. You see, you will be busy with a whole new range of things you had not imagined."
"I will do no such thing," Arthur said, weakening.
"You have become a cranky, selfish old man," Jarlid said. His eyes bored into Arthur's soul like glowing red-hot embers. "You had a beautiful wife, and you ignored her in your rise to the top of the financial pyramid. You have two beautiful if not exactly perfect offspring, and you live alienated from them. Those are your problems, Latchloose. I have too many problems of my own to worry about yours. This I can promise you, however. With this clock you are buying, you won't be able to run from your own miserable selfishness much longer."
"I-" Arthur started to say, and no more words came out of his mouth, so he snapped it shut. Instead, in a dreamy state, as if he were moving slowly in molasses, he took out his checkbook and wrote a fairly large check for Major Jarlid.
Without a word of thanks, Major Jarlid turned and vanished amid a whirl of snowflakes. Arthur looked on in stunned silence, and when he snapped his mouth shut, he had forgotten all about Major Jarlid. He was, however, filled with anticipation at seeing his new grandfather clock.
|
If you like what you're reading, please send at least two other avid readers to this website.
—Thank you! …Your grateful author, John T. Cullen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other gripping books by the author:
Copyright © 2005 by John T. Cullen. All Rights Reserved.
John T. Cullen has been a pioneer in digital publishing since 1996. He is listed by digital publishing historian Karen Wiesner as the sixth digital publisher in history, and the second person to publish serialized chapters on line (starting 1996). His web magazine Deep Outside SFFH was the first to be listed along with the professional pulps in Writer's Market (1999) and was at one time the oldest professional SFFH magazine in the world. John T. Cullen continues to explore new ways to adapt the primordial power of storytelling to emerging new digital opportunities as the Third Millennium springs to light.
|
|
|
A Walk in Ancient Rome John T. Cullen (Simon&Schuster May 2005) innovative, acclaimed walking & teaching tour—explore every corner of the Imperial capital at its zenith almost 2000 years ago; learn its history—smell and taste the very air of Classical Rome.
|
= Summer 2008 =
A Walk in Ancient Rome, Second Edition John T. Cullen (Clocktower Books 2008)—New! Many new maps; images from the unique scale model of AndréCaron of Quebec. Read this innovative book, with its acclaimed walking & teaching tour. Explore every corner of the Imperial capital at its zenith almost 2000 years ago; learn its history. Smell and taste the very air of Classical Rome. The new edition is bigger, like an atlas. Some people have carried the 1st edition with them to Rome, and found it greatly enhanced their experience.
Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado, 2nd Ed. John T. Cullen (Clocktower Books, San Diego, Summer 2008). John T. Cullen has tackled the mystery of the ghost at the Hotel del Coronado. He has assembled a dramatic new theory about how and why she violently died on the back steps of the hotel in 1892. A first-class ghost story and whodunit wrapped in one.
|
