The Stroke of Death

Obituaries Tell Life Stories… And Sometimes Death Stories. Lara Embers A Middle-Aged Reporter At A Small-Town Newspaper On The Eastern Shore Of Maryland Is Desperate To Keep Her Job After Victor Blake The New Young Managing Editor Comes On The Scene With His Own Agenda. Lara Acts On A Tip From A Distraught Widow And A Gut Feeling Seeing A Pattern Of Dark Coincidence In Recently Published Obituaries. The New Managing Editor Is Looking For A Big Story And He Just May Get One. The Stroke Of Death Set Nearly Two Decades Ago Addresses Issues Ranging From The Ethics Of The News Game To Single Parenthood Cults And All The Baby Boomers Raging Against The Dying Of The Light. Excerpts: The Woman Wakes With A Start. She Reaches Instinctively For The Man Who Had Been Sleeping Next To Her But He Is Not There. Dragging A Sheet She Wraps It Around Her As She Walks To The Window Her Heart Pounding Visibly In Her Chest. Something Is Wrong. Her Eyes Widen As She Sees Something Far Off In The Distance But The Sun Is Already Too Bright To See Clearly. There Is Only A Small Plume Of Smoke Where Water And Sky Meet. Screaming “Paul Paul . . .” She Drops The Sheet Turns And Runs To The Phone At The Bedside. By Mid-Afternoon Sheriff’S Deputies The Coroner And A Few Close Neighbors Are The Only Ones Left In The Dirt Driveway. The Coast Guard Investigator Is Already Gone. His Official Duties Were Minor And Easily Handled. Some Interviews Some Paper Some Signatures. All Done. Nothing But An Accident—A Dreadful Miscalculation. A Hot Wire Must Have Come In Contact With Fuel Stored Carelessly Which In Turn Ignited The Main Tanks. A Small Explosion Fire Boat Burned To The Waterline. Only A Torso Left. Lara This Subaru’S Got Congestive Heart Failure. The Lifters Are Bad And It Ticks Like A Jalopy The Tires Are Worn To The Belts But The Sunroof Still Works And The Radio’S Great. From This New Alternative Radio Station—X Something Or Other—“Everything’S Zen” Or So The Group’S Screaming In My Ears. I Pull Out Of My Driveway Look Again At The House. The Screen’S Coming Off The Front Porch The Basement Window Is Cracked And Two Windows Have Fallen Out Of The Garage Door. Everything’S Zen All Right—Just Not On My Block. I Keep Telling Myself When The Kids Get Out Of High School I’Ll Have More Money. They Eat Like Piranhas And Every Time I Turn Around They Need Something For School. This Month $125 For Ali’S Driver’S Education Class $8.50 For A Tennis Shirt For Zig $20 For A Class Trip Plus $20 More Spending Money Plus The Usual. Good Thing Ali’S Got A Job. She Hates It But She Makes $20 A Week Which Holds Her For Spending Money. They Are Great Kids Considering Who Their Mother Is. Not To Mention Their Father.