EXTRACT FOR
Old Friends
(David Monroe)

Jeremy had been out of high school for...what was it now...over 40 years? He could hardly believe it. It was not like his life had been empty or missing anything. He had followed his dreams from childhood and become a successful if not nationally-recognized writer. Jeremy had gone off to college with his plan in mind while always communicating a different scenario back to his parents and other relatives since he remembered the sting of how they had all told him writing was a pipedream. In fact, the criticism and ridicule had fueled him even more than he already was. Ever since he was very young, all Jeremy had needed to pursue anything was to be told, "...oh...you can't do that..." or "...you'd have to be crazy to do that..." or the golden oldie, "...how can you possibly support yourself doing that...".

So with this smokescreen in place, Jeremy got a degree in business as a cover and shocked all his family back home when he began to publish one after another piece of his work. He did novels, short story collections, and even a few non-fiction things here and there and soon the voices from home went silent as his bank account grew along with his critical reviews. Granted he was no Stephen King or James Patterson or even the acclaimed Michael Connelly, but Jeremy was just famous enough to keep doing what he wanted without having to worry about some screwball who might stalk him or otherwise want to insert themselves into the life of an American celebrity...what to him seemed to have become quite an obsession these days.