The Great Pretender
By Sarah Hadley Brook
Published by JMS Books LLC
Visit jms-books.com for more information.
Copyright 2017 Sarah Hadley Brook
ISBN 9781634864183
Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com
Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.
All rights reserved.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in the United States of America.
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For Damon. Your courage inspires me to this day.
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The Great Pretender
By Sarah Hadley Brook
All right, all you guys and dolls, that was Elvis Presley singing ‘Hound Dog’ and he sure can croon! Now it’s time to shake up the sounds and play our most requested song of the day, ‘The Great Pretender’ by The Platters. This is WKLM and Daddy-O is rockin’ and rollin’ tonight!
The disc jockey’s smooth voice resonated through the speakers and Billy spun the dial up before he turned right onto Wilson Lane, enjoying the way the wind blew through his short hair, cooling his heated skin. He loved driving with the top down, even as darkness began to fall around him. The day had been unbearably hot and sticky; it was clear that the summer of ‘56 was going to be a scorcher.
Melody poured from the speakers, floating on the crisp night air, and he couldn’t help but sing along, his voice loud and off-key. He was alone in the car, so what did it matter, anyway? Ironic, he mused, letting the music wrap around him, the lyrics filling him, forcing their way through the shield he wore every day. No, the irony that the lyrics of this very popular song spoke to him on such an intimate level was not lost on him.
Hah…the great pretender. That was Billy. Pretending to be everything he wasn’t. Even at the ripe old age of twenty-two and recently graduated from college, his true identity, his very soul, stayed hidden behind a shield that he rarely let fall. That shield had protected him over the years. Sure, it had some dents and scratches now,
