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Inherit the Flames
"Inherit the Flames" is a modern re-telling of the Biblical tale about the brothers Cain and Abel.
The year is 1978. In New Jersey the average income is $17,000. ‘Happy Days’ was the most popular show on TV and the movie ‘Saturday Night Fever’ made its screen debut to rave reviews. It was the year John Paul I became Pope and died after just 34 days in the Vatican; 918 people committed mass suicide in Jonestown; Pete Rose broke the baseball record for most consecutive hits, 44; and legalized gambling came to Atlantic City.
Eighteen-year-old Conor Larkin thought 'Happy Days' was corny, would never be caught dead watching a movie that played music by the Bee Gees, and was the only one among his high school friends that knew that Jonestown wasn’t in Jersey.
Nineteen-seventy-eight was the year Conor graduated high school. The year he started playing guitar with the ‘Sons of Disobedience’ and the year he had his first argument with his brother Aidan.
In the 1970s, the town across the bay from Atlantic City where Conor and Aidan lived called Pleasantville, was anything but pleasant. The drugs, gangs and prostitution infesting Atlantic City had turned P’Ville into a ghetto, where the stores on Main Street had more plywood than glass in the windows.
That summer, Conor decided he was getting out of P’Ville. He hated the town, couldn’t stand working another day at Franklin’s Grocery Store, and could no longer stomach the way his parents treated Abel like he was the Messiah, just because he was going to med school, and treated Conor like he was Satan, just because he played in a rock ‘n roll band.
Conor had twenty-four hours to come up with $1,000 in cash to get out of P’Ville. No one, not his stepfather Hank, not Mack the Cop, and not a drug dealer named Duffy were going to get in his way.
This was the day Conor busted out of town. Started over fresh. The day he met Mirian Byrne, the girl he’d been writing songs to since he was a freshman at P’Ville High. It turned out to be quite a day.
The year is 1978. In New Jersey the average income is $17,000. ‘Happy Days’ was the most popular show on TV and the movie ‘Saturday Night Fever’ made its screen debut to rave reviews. It was the year John Paul I became Pope and died after just 34 days in the Vatican; 918 people committed mass suicide in Jonestown; Pete Rose broke the baseball record for most consecutive hits, 44; and legalized gambling came to Atlantic City.
Eighteen-year-old Conor Larkin thought 'Happy Days' was corny, would never be caught dead watching a movie that played music by the Bee Gees, and was the only one among his high school friends that knew that Jonestown wasn’t in Jersey.
Nineteen-seventy-eight was the year Conor graduated high school. The year he started playing guitar with the ‘Sons of Disobedience’ and the year he had his first argument with his brother Aidan.
In the 1970s, the town across the bay from Atlantic City where Conor and Aidan lived called Pleasantville, was anything but pleasant. The drugs, gangs and prostitution infesting Atlantic City had turned P’Ville into a ghetto, where the stores on Main Street had more plywood than glass in the windows.
That summer, Conor decided he was getting out of P’Ville. He hated the town, couldn’t stand working another day at Franklin’s Grocery Store, and could no longer stomach the way his parents treated Abel like he was the Messiah, just because he was going to med school, and treated Conor like he was Satan, just because he played in a rock ‘n roll band.
Conor had twenty-four hours to come up with $1,000 in cash to get out of P’Ville. No one, not his stepfather Hank, not Mack the Cop, and not a drug dealer named Duffy were going to get in his way.
This was the day Conor busted out of town. Started over fresh. The day he met Mirian Byrne, the girl he’d been writing songs to since he was a freshman at P’Ville High. It turned out to be quite a day.
47 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 22, 2014
1 person want to read
About the author
Stephen Bradford Marte
5 books15 followersHello, I am a professional writer working for a large international corporation in their creative department. Initially I started out as a newspaper reporter, then briefly worked as a high school English teacher. After doing my student teaching a company offered me a job as a writer and I've been doing that ever since.
I've had a life-long love affair with ancient Greece. In my house are over 500 books devoted to ancient Greek literature, culture and history. The Wandering King: Summer, Harvest, War is my first historical novel. It is based on little known characters and events recorded in The History by Herodotus. Am currently working on the third book in the series, which it tentatively titled The Sworn Band.
I've had a life-long love affair with ancient Greece. In my house are over 500 books devoted to ancient Greek literature, culture and history. The Wandering King: Summer, Harvest, War is my first historical novel. It is based on little known characters and events recorded in The History by Herodotus. Am currently working on the third book in the series, which it tentatively titled The Sworn Band.
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