by Amy Lane
At that point, Carrie, who had an unsuccessful crush on Jino, chimed in, “And you have to kill one of them, Ms. Lane—I think Jino should die!”
“Right, fine! Jino, prepare to meet your maker!”
Jino—who looks much like he is described in the book—grinned his lady-killer smile. “Awesome, Ms. Lane.”
Marvin, his best friend, pouted. “C’mon—I wanted to be the one to die.”
Marvin Wingate (who also looks a lot like Marv’s description in the book) was in my class for his tenth—and eleventh—grade years. His tenth-grade year was rough—he’d gotten into some trouble and was in the process of owning up to his responsibilities, and I was impressed by the young man who wanted to grow up and be a good person. His eleventh-grade year was proof of that. He slept a lot (well, he did have mono), but he also participated a lot and worked hard in his goal to be able to join the US Marine Corps when he graduated. I was so proud of him—I thought that watching this kid graduate would be a real highlight of 2009. I love watching my students grow up—it was one of the bennies of the job.
Not this time.
One gorgeous, blindingly hot summer day in Sacramento, right after summer school, Marvin, Jino, and a bunch of other inmates of summer school went out to Discovery Park to swim in the Sacramento River. Marvin got caught in a current and drowned. Jino was there in the hospital when the time of death was called.
I didn’t hear about Marvin’s death until nearly a month later, and then all I could do was mourn him and wish I had been able to make it to the memorial ceremony.
This book was already in the revision stage, and during the painful rewrite, I examined every word of “Marv’s” appearance, wondering if I should pull him from the text, change his character, allow Jino to live. In short, I second-guessed every choice I’d made regarding “Marv,” because I didn’t want to cause anyone who read the book any pain on his behalf.
The first day of school, Jino came into my room to talk about Marvin. I fished through my closet of lost and found and pulled out one of Marvin’s camouflage tank tops, left before summer vacation, and we both tried very hard not to sink into an abyss of grief. While I was searching for it, Jino asked me about the book.
“We’re both still in it, aren’t we, Ms. Lane?”
“Of course you are.”
“And I’m still the one who died, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good—leave it that way. I want to read it, and I couldn’t stand it if Marvin’s character died.”
“Okay.”
“You know, Ms. Lane, you know, there’s this kid in ROTC who looks like him—mixed heritage, curly hair, that white smile with the crooked front tooth. I see him in the corner of my eye sometimes, and my heart jumps, and I think it’s him.”
I’m crying by now, and so is he a little. “Oh, Marvin,” I said, shaking my head, “you dumbshit kid. I hope you knew what you were going to do to us.”
Jino nodded. “He pulled a Marine maneuver without backup, Ms. Lane. It was so not cool.”
It wasn’t. It was so not cool. But Marvin would have grieved just as much as Jino is grieving now, and I hope when Jino reads this, he’ll see that brotherhood cuts both ways. Both boys are everything I wanted in my regents—strong, brave, honorable, and full of so much potential to make the world a better place. They were the good I see in my heroes—it’s that pure and that simple.
Marvin, buddy, we’ll miss you and the stunning young man you were becoming.
AMY LANE is a mother of four and a compulsive knitter who writes because she can’t silence the voices in her head. She adores cats, Chi-who-whats, knitting socks, and hawt menz, and she dislikes moths, cat boxes, and knuckle-headed macspazzmatrons. She is rarely found cooking, cleaning, or doing domestic chores, but she has been known to knit up an emergency hat/blanket/pair of socks for any occasion whatsoever, or sometimes for no reason at all. She writes in the shower, while at the gym, while taxiing children to soccer/dance/gymnastics/band oh my! and has learned from necessity to type like the wind. She lives in a spider-infested, crumbling house in a shoddy suburb and counts on her beloved Mate to keep her tethered to reality—which he does, while keeping her cell phone charged as a bonus. She’s been married for twenty-plus years and still believes in Twu Wuv, with a capital Twu and a capital Wuv, and she doesn’t see any reason at all for that to change.
Website: www.greenshill.com
Blog: www.writerslane.blogspot.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/amy.lane.167
Twitter: @amymaclane
Published by
HARMONY INK PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
[email protected] • hharmonyinkpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Bitter Moon Saga
© 2016 Amy Lane.
Cover Design
© 2016 Alexandria Corza.
http://www.ajcorza.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or [email protected].
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-559-5
Published May 2016
v. 1.0
Triane’s Son Rising 1st Edition published as Bitter Moon I: Triane’s Son Ascending by iUniverse, 2008. 2nd Edition published by Harmony Ink Press, September 2013. Cover Art by Nathie, creationwarrior.net. Triane’s Son Learning 1st Edition published as Bitter Moon I: Triane’s Son Ascending by iUniverse, 2008. 2nd Edition published by Harmony Ink Press, November 2013. Cover Art by Nathie, creationwarrior.net. Triane’s Son Fighting 1st Edition published as Bitter Moon II: Triane’s Son Reigning by iUniverse, 2009. 2nd Edition published by Harmony Ink Press, January 2014. Cover Art by Nathie, creationwarrior.net. Triane’s Son Reigning 1st Edition published as Bitter Moon II: Triane’s Son Reigning by iUniverse, 2009. 2nd Edition published by Harmony Ink Press, March 2014. Cover Art by Nathie, creationwarrior.net.
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Blurb
The Bitter Moon Saga includes
Triane’s Son Rising
Triane’s Son Learning
Triane’s Son Fighting
Triane’s Son Reigning
In Memoriam: A Few Words from the Author
About the Author
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