Cutting the Fringe
by
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The snow was coming down so hard Clay could barely see the road in front of him. This better be a great meal, he thought. It had been snowing most of the day and it was really beginning to accumulate. By the time he arrived at the senator’s residence the snow must have been a foot deep and the roads were almost impassable.
He pulled into the circular driveway and stopped in front of what he hoped was the sidewalk leading to the front door. When he opened the car door it barely cleared the mounting snow. Carefully he made his way to the front door a little unsteadily; however, safe and sound, all parts still vertical.
Clay couldn’t help remembering the last time he was here. It was of course, the night of the senator’s supposed suicide. He could still see the fear in the eyes of the senator’s wife, and he could almost feel the touch of her cold hands. A faint smile crossed his face as he remembered Sergeant Shackelford, and how the sergeant kept ribbing them about the way in which to kill a man, a man already dead for two days.
Suddenly he realized it was his thoughts and not the snowy evening that were causing him to shiver. He shook his head as if to dislodge the thoughts and clear his mind before ringing the bell.
The door opened and the senator greeted him warmly, smiling brightly enough to increase the luminance of the already well-lit foyer.
The senator extended his hand. “How the hell are you, Clay? My wife said you wouldn’t make it in this blizzard, but I told her you’d be here. It sure is good of you to come.”
Clay shuffled the bottle of wine he was carrying to his left hand and grasped the senator’s hand firmly.
“No problem, I’m always ready for a free meal. I hope this wine is appropriate. I wasn’t sure what we were having.”
“It’s perfect,” the senator replied, taking Clay’s coat and proceeding to hang it on the coat rack next to the stairwell. “Clay, would you like a drink? That should warm you. I’m afraid the wife and I are about two drinks up on you. Scotch and soda, right?”
“Yes Sir, that’d be great, thanks.”
The senator returned with Clay’s drink in hand. “Look, Clay, if you don’t mind we’ll discuss business after dinner, there’s no need upsetting the missus.”
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About the Book
Henry Clay Smith is once again the target of assassins. His friends, Susan, Gidget, and Johnny, are also marked for extinction. The group of assassins seeking to end Clay’s life has the audacity to include a well-known Senator and his wife in their plans.
Clay, his friends, and the senator decide to go on the offensive; however, without knowing it, they are already too late.
“Cutting the Fringe” is a typical “David and Goliath” scenario ... a few, real American patriots pitted against the powerful
Clay and his friends, on the other hand, think
About the Author
Having spent part of his early life in a children’s home, Mr. Smith enlisted in the army at the age of sixteen in order to finish his education. He is a veteran of the Berlin Wall crisis, the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War. The decade of the sixties was spent in service to his country—in one way or another. After putting government service behind him, Mr. Smith became a hotelier and has been president of three corporations, and CEO and founder of another.
Mr. Smith has signed copies of his books at more than fifty military bases, including
Mr. Smith’s educational background is in mathematics and journalism, disproving the popular theory that men are unable to use both sides of the brain.
In December of 2003, Mr. Smith officially became the Tennessee Ambassador of Goodwill, an honor bestowed on him by the Honorable Phil Bredesen, governor of the state of