Who Shall Live
by
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Standing ninth on a ten-person line at the Drydock Savings Bank, grinding cream of mud and tartar of mortar into the Drydock’s semiporous limestone floor, Adam was flashing nothing but Sally. Supposed to establish contact with her in ninety minutes, 6:30 p.m. EST. Masonic pin, or reeking of gin, tux or two bucks, tan shoes with pink shoelaces or bare-toed for the Camptown races, hairy-chested or shirt-waisted, dressed to kill or lacking frills, out to bite or go home tonight, he was absolutely ready ready ready to rock and roll. He trundled up with his paycheck, quickly filled out a deposit for $105 (bringing himself that much closer to the final semester’s tuition) received $39.81 back, shoved it in his wallet, and shoved the wallet down into the button-down left breast pocket of his innermost shirt. And buttoned it. I got mine, he told himself as he crashed through three winos who had clustered around him on the sidewalk knowing he was a working man with cash in his jeans. Let my house burn down, I’m not there. Let the world collapse. I don’t care. I got my paycheck in my pocket and my number one woman for dinner. Hoo Hah. Oi vey is mir, don’t look now but this little boy is gonna pop. Cop. Sop. Bop. Dapple Gray was a far-out mule, Dayenu. Wuzza wuzza on the Judgment Day. Halley. Lew. Yahh. Let the good times roll, ’cause old Adam come back to sock and stroll. Tonight, anyway; the last night if it came out that way.
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About the Book
Adam Kaminsky lives in the Lower East Side and works as a laborer on a construction site in Long Island City. He is saving up money for his final semester of college. It is 1966; and Adam would be a happy man, but: He has two girlfriends, and they both want to break up with him. And: He has grave issues with uncles. His Uncle Stu got him his job, and that’s OK. His work buddy’s Uncle Frank, a bookie with a lunch wagon at another construction site, is OK too. But then there’s Uncle Sam, who wants to draft him for Viet Nam. And most of all there’s Uncle Frederick, uncle to a foreman on the job. Frederick happens to be a Nazi war criminal, literally cracked in his head, with a steel plate holding it together. His nephew considers him "the best ***ing worker on the job"...but laid him off when he showed up for work with a .38, gunning for Adam. Tomorrow he’s coming back. Adam is ready for mortal combat. But he doesn’t know Who Shall Live.
About the Author
The author lives in New England with his wife, Virginia. He has worked as a journalist and editor, fund raiser and market researcher, human services case worker and counselor, radio dispatcher and key punch operator. He grew up in New Jersey, went to school at Antioch College in Ohio, and lived in various parts of the country before settling in place about twenty years ago. He has been writing fiction, fact, opinion, and poetry for more than forty years; and his work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, journals, and the short fiction anthology After the Fall. Who Shall Live is his first published novel. A collection of short occupational fiction, One for the Money, will be published this year by 1st Books; and a third book, Troll Call, will appear shortly thereafter. The author believes that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.