"Hezbollah" --- A Sneak Preview!!!

Here's an excerpt from Hezbollah --- the EBook available on Amazon!!!

       Tina remembered inviting Zeke out to Paco Cabales’ beachfront home on the Jersey Shore shortly before the Crusader Concert Tour began. Paco had been David Diamond’s best friend in the old days, and two of his daughters married members of the band. Paco was a neighborhood legend back in South Brooklyn before Hezbollah. He fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, was in the Rangers and Green Berets, and had five Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars. After Hezbollah he became part of the underground cult legend.

            Paco was one of the thousands of Vietnam vets who got sprayed with Agent Orange during the war. He was dragged into the class action lawsuit, and when his ship came in he bought the beach home for himself and his daughters. He decided to hold a housewarming party for the old gang, and it coincided with the bombshell announcement that Hezbollah was being invited the Palestine by James “Continental” Lincoln. It was a momentous occasion for one and all, and Tina decided she was not going to leave Zeke out of it.

            He tugged at her heart strings from the moment he walked through the door. She had arrived early in great anticipation of seeing the old gang after almost a half decade, and wanted to be right there with Paco greeting the arrivals. She shared his pride and joy in seeing each and every one of them come through the door, from his daughters to the band members to David’s creepy crawlers. She didn’t feel so bad about Zeke being somewhat of an outsider after David brought those guys. It was almost as if someone’s hick town uncle had thought nothing of bringing his dogs to a birthday party.

            She shared Paco’s joy in greeting his daughters Isabel and Lucy, and was just as exhilarated to see David, Stu, Duke, Johnny, Roth and Debbie again. Zeke was very diplomatic with everyone, even knocking down a beer with David as they discussed the Lower Manhattan music scene. She always knew that they respected each other as men though they had no time for one another as musicians. Zeke remained very much the gentleman, and it wasn’t until Debbie and David nearly knocked over one of Paco’s lampstands did they decide to take a walk outside along the beach by themselves.

            “So you’re going to Palestine with these people,” Zeke asked, cutting a sexy figure in his black clothing, his dark hair fluttering in the river breeze. “Do you ever read the papers or watch TV? They stone women over there for going around without veils. How do you think they’re gonna take Debbie Munson and the Guttermouth Gang?”

            “We’re talking a hundred grand per person,” Tina replied, causing Zeke’s eyes to widen. “I mentioned it to my sister Carmen, she’s got a secretary job on Wall Street. Her friends told her that I’d be smart to put half of it in stocks. I could live on the rest and go on tour without having to worry about paying bills for a year, see where it takes me.”

            “Did he put that in writing?” Zeke cleared his throat.

            “C’mon, this is James Lincoln.”      

   

            “What, you don’t think these music industry douchebags don’t renege on their promises? Don’t you remember what happened with me and Columbia? We laid the basic tracks for fourteen songs before they yanked the rug out from under us. It’s all about the bean counters. The minute their economists predict a possible loss, they pull the plug with no questions asked.”               

        “Yeah, but Carmen’s friends say that the Arabs’re bankrolling the whole deal through Princess Sabrina,” Tina insisted. “You know, why is it that you’re never happy for me? Why do I have to defend everything I do?”

            “I don’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all. Those friends of yours, they probably want this so bad they’d do it for ten grand. You get a lawyer to work for a percentage, and tell Lincoln to send him a copy of the contract before you start making plans. At least do that.”

            “Well, I don’t know any lawyers.”

            “You can use mine. Barney Ross, he’s an entertainment attorney, specializes in contracts. He’ll probably charge you a grand but he’ll assure you the deal is iron-clad. Matter of fact, he doesn’t step away from the table until it is. He’ll send it back twice for alterations, the third time he’s talking fraudulent business practices. People don’t mess with this guy.”

            “I appreciate it. Sometimes it seems like you care.”

            “See? This is how it starts,” Zeke was exasperated. “I only came out here to be with you for the holidays. It’s hard for me to be in the same room with David, and Debbie’s no better. You know, I actually picked up a copy of that book of his, The Excommunicant. I found it in this rathole book store in the Village. I don’t know how he could possibly be making any money off it. The best he’ll do is the sales he might make off the Tour, if there ever is one. I’ll tell you, I never read such blasphemous, obscene, rambling scribble in my whole life.”

            “Well, it’s paying his bills. He’s doing as well as either of us are.”

            “Yeah, well it looks to me like they’re gonna be riding your skirt tails on this deal.”

        “Everybody in there’s doing okay. You don’t need to be putting down my friends all the time. What makes you better than them anyway?”

            “I don’t know, you tell me. You married me.”

            “Yeah, and I divorced you, too,” she couldn’t help herself.

            “You’re my wife, and you always will be,” he growled, pulling her into his arms and lowering her to the sand before crushing his lips against hers. She had gone so long without a man that her heart raced with anticipation. She felt him undoing her jeans and pulling them down. She had always had a fantasy of sex on the beach, and she would always remember thinking that it was going to be as good a time as any.