Diary of a Heretic

Beautiful Minds

kathleenmaher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:34:16 -0500

Getting Tara to shop was one thing, getting her to include Dorothy Hall another. So Brooke balanced on the arm of her sister’s Adirondack chair. But Tara grabbed Brooke’s leg. “If you’ve outgrown your bra, are your breasts sore? Because that’s a symptom.” “I know it’s a symptom.” “At first, Brooke, I agreed with you. Like, what if Matthew looks at you someday and thinks, shit, I could’ve been the best James Bond ever. But if you’re pregnant, take him at his word: He wants to marry you; he doesn’t care about being in the movies. And he told me,...

Fletcher's Favor

kathleenmaher — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:25:51 -0500

A month later, when Matthew was terrified for Brooke and what they were both bound to lose, he lost most of his confidence and unique charm. A lifetime of practice maintained his graceful affability while he acquired a sly but powerful motivation to finish James Bond and attain his dream with Brooke—as far away and unlikely as that seemed. If anybody noticed that he acted effortless when he wasn’t, leaving a trail of anxiety and frustration in his wake, nobody said so. Sung and Mason decided Matthew King had thoroughly mastered everything they were hired to teach him. Obviously, he...

A World without Al Weisel, author of Jon Swift's Blog

kathleenmaher — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:39:54 -0500

Al Weisel's mother wrote the tragic story below: I don't know how else to tell you all who love this [Jon Swift's] blog. I am Jon Swift's Mom and I guess I'm going to OUT him. He was Al Weisel, my beloved son. Al was on his way to his father's funeral in VA when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis. He had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke. We, his 2 sisters, his brother, his...

Tempting Fate

kathleenmaher — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:14:02 -0500

Matthew King made unprotected love to Brooke outside in the bright summer air. Pants bunched at his knees, he intuited his fate, which took shape—something out of nothing. Brooke was murmuring in his ear, “No that’s not it,” and he plunged from the atmosphere overhead, gravity whooshing through him and inside of her. She pulled free saying, “It’s not my fault, Matthew. You can’t blame me.” He held her head in both hands, telling her he would never blame her. He loved her. “It’ll be all right,” she said, straightening her skirt. He pulled up his pants and fixed them...

Getting It Right

kathleenmaher — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:18:14 -0500

During Matthew’s work-out with the trainer Mason, Brooke rode her bike to Dorothy Hall’s apartment. She rang the doorbell, holding a basket of strawberries. Dorothy, who had worked in West End theaters, thanked Brooke for the “treat” and invited her to sit on a big pillow facing the sliding glass door. “Matthew King is so yummy.” Dorothy said, rinsing the berries. She set the colander at Brooke’s feet and sat on a pillow beside her. After eating a few berries Brooke hesitated before dropping the stems back in the colander. When talking to Dorothy, Brooke invariably assumed what she hoped...

Bite Your Tongue

kathleenmaher — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:21:59 -0500

“Home, James,” Tara said from the back seat and Brooke tapped Matthew’s leg, meaning, his house; Tara dreaded being alone. Earlier, Tara had moved into a bright, airy bedroom at the farmhouse, telling her mother that if Ivy or Dex woke from bad dreams, she was there to help. “Thank you, honey,” Connie said. “We can’t bother Matthew, not with what he’s paying us.” Connie slept across the hall from the children, because while Matthew was in training for James Bond, he was sleeping in the compound’s separate building where his office was. [click here for the first episode, or...

Your Only Hope

kathleenmaher — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:02:00 -0500

All sensation pulled tight inside Brooke. Sometimes, just Matthew’s presence did this, but certainly when he made love to her…Then her body became a radiant centrifuge. Matthew called her his angel and claimed he loved her beyond reason. He said that before Brooke, he had enjoyed women at his leisure. He married his wife because they were equally content together or apart. And until last summer, Matthew’s money and middling fame gratified her. Sasha’s cocaine addiction had been harrowing but he was grateful that he and Dex and Ivy had escaped, relatively unscathed. [click here for the first episode, or...

The Benefit

kathleenmaher — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:18:26 -0500

Brooke rolled one soccer ball and then the other around her right black shoe and then the left. Ivy grabbed Matthew’s pants and he hoisted her onto his shoulders. Brooke said, “Dex, tell them what you decided.” “Oh yeah,” he said, grinning at Tara and his father. “My name is just ‘Dex’ from now on, not Dexter. When we went to register for soccer I had to sign my name and Brooke noticed that I signed Dex, which is a better name for me.” [click here for the first episode, or here for previous one.] Matthew resettled Ivy between his...

The Real Crime

kathleenmaher — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:17:37 -0500

Hiding his amusement at Tara’s interest in accompanying them, Matthew drove her and his physical trainers to pick up the Mercedes coupes the movie company had rented. Dorothy, the voice coach, insisted she preferred riding a bicycle, even though the rental fee was not refundable. In the parking lot, Tara asked to ride with Sung, feigning a vague interest in Taekwondo. With her fair skin, Tara blushed like her mother but the effect was lovely, not embarrassing. Her round cheeks and long neck glowed and her cupid’s-bow lips deepened in color. [click here for the first episode, or here for...

Up the Creek

kathleenmaher — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:01:15 -0500

Mark Fletcher was enunciating heedlessly, but upon hearing Matthew thank Connie Logan and take the phone, he backtracked. “You departed so hastily, Bond, we never discussed the local theater people.” [click here for the first episode, or here for previous one.] “Won’t I meet them in—four hours?” Matthew’s impatience itched like mad. “Please pay attention. Unfortunately, we will be performing Wind, Rain, Lightning, Thunder, a first effort by young Jason Astley, the son of you know. Thus, I have enticed a brilliant young actor to play the part of a comic spirit I have added to the script. I dare...