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VINCENT--a new novel 3/16/2012 9:18:25 AM
An excerpt VINCENT
A Novel
By
Harvey Mendez
CHAPTER ONE
Vincent Carlson and his cat, Jerome, perked up. Torrential rain beat like a slave ship’s battle drum on the thatched roof of the small shack near the tree line of the sandy beach. They had seen many storms over the years, but each new onslaught quickened their heart rates. Jerome crept onto the ragged pillow, nuzzled its nose next to Vincent’s scraggly beard. He stroked Jerome’s fur behind its ears. Purring grew like the thunderstorm. Outside the wind blew fiercer, smashed palm fronds hard against the hut’s thin walls.
Vincent turned, blinked, and pulled himself up on his elbows. The saggy bed, matching his weathered, still handsome face, belched with the movement. Spitting out part of his afternoon binge, he rubbed an arm across his reddened eyes and listened to the turbulent Coral Sea. He smelled the sea in the muggy air mixed with the warm rain and wiped sweat off his forehead with a calloused hand. Jerome stopped purring, flicked its tail into an alcoholic-smelling half coconut Vincent had finished off before his nap.
“Jerome . . .” He peered out the small open window at the black rain clouds. “. . . This is gonna be a big one.”
He liked that cat. They’d been pals ever since she’d . . . No. He didn’t want to think about her again. Every time he did, it dragged him into a bottomless pit. Jerome purred again, snuggled closer to Vincent’s hollow stomach. He sighed, patted the cat’s head, then pulled its tail out of the coconut, and tipped the shell to his cracked lips. Several drops of the bad-tasting booze spilled out. Running his dry tongue over his rough
lips, he pushed the cat away and reached for another coconut
