literary
magazine
literary
magazine
Death Knell
by Kathleen Maher
When Jeanne, a recently widowed young mother, moves halfwayacross the United States to Lawrence, Kansas, she hopes toescape a troubled past and start a new life with her two-year-olddaughter. Instead she finds she has traded one set of troubles for another. Bereaved and lonely, she plunges headlong into an affair with a married man, Kevin, and tries to befriend Kevin's troubledfriend Hal. But Kevin's passion for her and Hal's jealousy create avolatile mix.
Kathleen Maher is a fiction writer based in New York City. A regular contributor to The View From Here, she notes that the term "death knell" interests her because it has two distinct meanings: It may be the sound of abell tolling after a death, or it can be an omen presaging a death.
The Magazine on-line:
http://tvfhmag.com
Kathleen on-line:
http://diaryofaheretic.blogs.comCopyright: Kathleen Maher Death Knell originally appeared in issues 30 to 36 of The View from HereCover images for these issues of the View From Here: Diego CupoloAll people, places and events depicted therein are fictional and not meant to resemble any actual people, places, or eventsunless otherwise specified.
Death Knell
by Kathleen Maher
When Jeanne, a recently widowedyoung mother, moves halfway acrossthe United States to Lawrence,Kansas, she hopes to escape atroubled past and start a new life withher two-year-old daughter. Instead shefinds she has traded one set of troubles for another. Bereaved andlonely, she plunges headlong into anaffair with a married man, Kevin, andtries to befriend Kevin's troubledfriend Hal. But Kevin's passion for her and Hal's jealousy create a volatilemix.
Death Knell
is a short novel intwelve parts, which will run eachmonth in the magazine throughout2011.Kathleen Maher is a fiction writer based in New York City. A regular contributor to The View From Here,she notes that the term "death knell"interests her because it has twodistinct meanings: It may be the soundof a bell tolling after a death, or it canbe an omen presaging a death.
Chapter OneEveryone loves Kevin; even people who
hate dentists love Kevin. He‟s good andgenerous and “easy does it.” I‟m watching
him through a wall-size, one-way window.
(I can see out; he can‟t see in.) He‟s
under a cypress tree, rocking on hisheels, waiting to help the young widow indistress who will pull into his parking lotsoon. This whole, full-service dentalcenter, the best in Lawrence, with itsfloor-to-ceiling windows and huge,tranquil waiting room, is all his.He
loves
rescuing people. He‟s been
rescuing me since sixth grade.Kevin was one of five black kids inour class of two hundred, and the last guy
you‟d want to mess with. His mother
Rebecca is from Jamaica. While we weregrowing up, Kevin ruled. But unlike thestereotype coolest dude in school,
Kevin‟s off
-the-charts-smart. No apology
necessary. He‟s a natural artist everyone
took seriously. Nobody laughed at Kevin.
He‟s one of a kind. People here don‟t
talk about someone being black or whiteor Asian. At least, not around me; but
then I‟m one of a kind too: “Hapless HalAlbertson.”
Kids called me Dumbo
—
until Kevinmade them stop. When they picked onme all Kevin had to do was stare. If someone was beating me, he pointed hisfinger. He stuck up for me so often that bythe time we were in high school, peoplehad lost interest in me.
After college, he‟d planned to get a
Masters in media arts but switched todentistry because his dad, who died of stomach cancer really fast, willed it;
tuition included. Of course, his dad‟s
death was awful. But when it came toswitching from video art to dental art,
Kevin didn‟t skip a beat. The way he
explained it to me, an outside professionwould make his videos
real. While if he‟d
followed his first plan and climbed theart-
school ladder, he‟d just get stuck.
I had no plans after college except toget away from my mother, who startedevery day by vacuuming my insides out,leaving not one jot of confidence. Noto
ne jot. So I asked Kevin if he‟d mind me
following him to dental school in KansasCity.
“Why not,” he said, “providing we‟renot roommates.”I knew that; we‟re not normal friends.
He aced double courses and
interned all four years so he‟s certified
for dentistry, oral surgery, and endontics.I barely graduated. Not only did Kevinprep me for every test; he met with theteachers and vouched for me.Once I was finally certified, he urgedme not to stay in KC, but to start a
practice in Lawrence. He‟d alr
eadyopened his and of course, being partnerswas out of the question. But he said,
“Lawrence is familiar with you, Hal,” and
he would refer patients to me.
So why did I stay in KC? I didn‟t want
to go back to Lawrence because of mymother. She was still living in the senior residence but I was always happier whenout of immediate range. And
—
this is themain reason
—
I had a girlfriend, or thought so. For years this librarian and Imet at Starbucks. We laughed, walkedaround, and always enjoyed a few hourstogether after work. One night she talkedabout making out (that means kissing
alot
) with her old boyfriend. But when I
tried to kiss her (I‟m a patient man—
up toa point), she panicked. After that when Iphoned, she screamed; when I stoppedby the library, she called the securityguard.Yet even while this thing with thelibrarian was becoming a problem, Imanaged to do what everyone assumed I
couldn‟t: open my own office in downtown
KC. The loan officer at the bank (where Ihave a mountain of student loans)extended my credit as far as I wanted.Problem is, my practice never had aprayer. First, the building housed four well-established dentists. Second, theeconomy crashed. Third, my mother gotkicked out of the senior residence for threatening people.
The doctor says it‟s
Death Knell
by Kathleen Maher
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