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“Parting Words from Moristotle” (07/31/2023)
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of art, poems, stories, serials, travelogues,
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Whatever Happened to Charlie?;
Top Shark Conservation Organizations;
Acknowledgments;
About the Author
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Postscript: Whatever Happened to Charlie?
I’m Juan Reyes. My family and I sold our house and moved into Margot Rosenburg’s home, which was deeded to me by a mutual friend. Thanks to that friend, my kids are both at the University. My son is studying to become a lawyer and my daughter a doctor. For once in my life, we caught a good break.
The Door Closes
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie awoke from a bad dream. Sweat covered his body, and his hands were shaking. A horrible smell assaulted his senses. He jumped from the chair, his mind still trapped in the nightmare, and fell to his knees, with great sobs shaking his body.
Pay Back
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Night was coming but the sun was still up as Charlie began watching for movement around the house. The guards were going in and out and the windows were still open to catch the evening breeze. At some point, they would lock down the house, and Charlie needed to get in before that happened.
Devil Below
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The sun was up and it was getting hot fast. Charlie turned off the highway going to Jaco and shot up the hill, taking his new shortcut this time. He stopped at the top, looked back onto the highway and waited to see if he had been followed. He waited five minutes but only a tourist van came by with people on their way to resorts along the beaches. One other benefit of the shortcut was that he could see miles of the highway going back to Puntarenas and on to Jaco.
Attack Plan
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The sun was an hour before rising as he headed down the road from Margot’s on his motorbike. In his mind, Charlie could hear Araya’s footsteps coming closer; he was running out of time. Araya was not above making up a reason to have him arrested. In fact, he was surprised Araya hadn’t already done it.
Tai Makes a Run
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
It was a moonless night with only the light from the warehouse guard post illuminating a bit of the street. There was a chill in the air from a north wind that had come in with a cold front. Understand that Charlie had been in Costa Rica long enough that sixty degrees was freezing to him as well as to other Costa Ricans, and everybody on the street had jackets on, most of them with a hoody.
Dog with a Bone
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie had received a letter from Diego Acedo, Margot’s attorney, who asked if Charlie could drop by for a chat.
The little bell over Acedo’s office door tinkled when Charlie walked in. “Have a seat, I’ll be right with you.”
Big Bust
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie was notified by Customs what American Airlines flight his feathers were going out on. He knew that if his feathers were going out Tai’s shark fins would be on the same flight, and he forwarded the information to Agent Morris.
By the time AA 2589 landed in Dallas, the D.E.A. had added more cameras around the Customs secure-holding area. The area was already covered with cameras but these gave them coverage of every inch of it.
The Police
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie pulled up to his gate only to find a policeman on a motorbike waiting for him. He looked to Charlie to be in his early twenties and fresh on the job.
He leaned his head out of the window and asked, “Can I help you?”
A Plan Needed to Be Worked
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The next day Charlie made a trip to Customs. He had the box of feathers that Margot had made up for him and the two thousand dollars for Julio Morales. It had crossed Charlie’s mind that the two Morales’s could be related, but Victor was a Mexican and Julio was a Tico through and through. South America lacked a large pool of names to choose from. Unlike the States, most names in South American countries came from one source, Spain.
Too Soon the Light Is Gone
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie landed at the airport in Liberia and caught a cab to the bus station. He tried Juan’s cell phone at the airport and again in the cab. The bus had few passengers and he had a seat by himself. Every few minutes he would try Juan. At last, he gave up and called Margot.
“Hello.” She sounded tired and her voice was a whisper.
Dead Pool
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie took a giant step over the body and into the shower and washed the blood off of himself, trying not to look at the mess that covered the bathroom floor, which had been a man but a few minutes ago. He stepped out and inched along the wall, finding it hard not to step in the pool of shiny red fluid. The gun was lying against the wall. He picked it up using the bath towel and taking care not to smear the blood.
Border Crossing
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie heard back from Agent Nowak later that night. Nowak and Morris would be coming to Nicaragua Friday afternoon, flying into Emerald Coast International Airport and then taking a D.E.A. helicopter on down to La Virgen, which was on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. Charlie was to call them upon his arrival.
Bedfellows
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie still had a key to his rental house, whose lease wasn’t up until the end of the month. He parked his bike beside the front door and went in. He hadn’t seen the blow-up coming. Maybe he should have, because he knew that the killing of the guard had more of an impact on Margot than he had foreseen. But he never thought he would find himself alone.
After the Storm
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The trucks had been running non-stop for a week bringing first large boulders, then smaller stones, and at last gravel. An enormous roller packed each load down into the mud. The stretch where the mudslide had taken out most of Margot’s exit now looked like a road again. Charlie’s motorbike had been the only way in or out for them for two weeks.
The Storm
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The report that his warehouse had been broken into sent Tai into a rage. The first thing he did was fire all the security people and brought in Taiwanese who lived in San Jose. The second thing he did was telephone Taiwan and request more men.
Lost Innocence
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The ferry docked the next morning at 10:30. Juan felt it would be better if they weren’t seen together, so Charlie walked off the ferry while Juan drove past him on his way home.
The town was abuzz with the killing at the warehouse, and police were wall to wall. Charlie walked toward the little soda (café) that he, Edgar, and Rufino had first gone to. He was in sight of it when two policemen stopped him and asked for ID.
Roll the Dice
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
At 5 p.m. Juan pulled up at Charlie’s house, and five minutes later they were on their way. As they drove toward town, Juan said, “You know it’s high tide and we’ll need to go in by boat, don’t you?”
“Hell no, I hadn’t thought about it. Aren’t low and high tide the same time every day?”
“Charlie, have you ever been around the ocean before?”
The Break
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie was mad. He didn’t trust Howard and what really got him was that Margot didn’t trust his judgment and sided with Howard.
Instead of going home, he turned toward town. He accelerated his little motorbike on the beach road. The buildings and palm trees raced past and became blurs as the small engine screamed from the strain. At that time of night no one else was on the streets as he flew past the closed shops.
To Con or Not to Con
By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie was driving himself crazy with worry. The thing with Howard was bad, very bad. If indeed Howard was working with Mr. Tai, that meant that Tai knew who they were and what they were up to.
None of it made sense to him. If Howard was working for Tai, he thought, why didn’t he fly right over me as I lay on that beach and let me die? Why did he help Margot year after year? Charlie had to come up with a way to test Howard’s loyalties. They had to be sure, one way or the other. That was Charlie’s problem: he had no ideas as to how he could do that.
