Never Too Late : WTF?
Huh? WTF? Is this a new book?
I know, I know … you probably never heard of this one. So if you haven’t, it’s new, lol.
The truth is, I’ve never really announced it or promoted it. Just uploaded it to retailers and my website without any fanfare.
Why? Insert. Shrug. Here. Just didn’t have the time, I guess. But it’s never too late, right?
Inspired by a real-life event
I’m sorry to say that this story was inspired by a tragic moment in my life. It still haunts me to this day.
Many years ago, my mother—an angel on Earth—passed away suddenly. It was a shock that shook me to my core. I was so traumatized that when I put down the phone after hearing the news, I went to work and said not a word to anyone. I was a software developer back then, and I just carried on writing code as if everything was fine. I never flinched for a second, I was so messed up. Only later in the day did I realize that my co-workers had definitely known that I was not my usual joke-about-everything self. When my supervisor finally asked if anything was wrong, I just told him flat-out that my mother had passed on. Said it so dimly, as if I was giving him a status report on how the current project was going. Sooooo, sooooo messed up.
You see, although I was traumatized by my mom’s untimely death, I was equally overcome with guilt. Like many people, I spent a great deal of my time letting life get in the way, spending far too little with my parents. I always thought there would be enough time for that later. That it was never too late.
I was wrong.
Is it a horror story?
Absolutely. But it sends a deep message. Have a peek inside with Chapter One.
A lightning-fast read that will make you take a hard look at your life.
Can you handle the truth? Step inside a human mind on the brink, in a chilling tale of one man’s ultimate fear. Never Too Late is a lightning-fast read with a disturbing twist, offering a tragic life lesson for all of us.
Live now. Before it’s too late.
For Scott Fisher, a logical, dependable, urban professional with a beautiful wife and a precocious eight-year-old son, life has always been predictable. But lately, Scott has been anything but predictable, making his wife suspect that something is disturbingly wrong. And when Scott takes the family on an unexpected trip and begins to act even more strangely, their lives take a dark and disastrous turn.
Chapter 1
Live, Scott Fisher thought. Live now. Before it’s too late.
He secured the nylon rope to the ten-foot aluminum canoe that crowned his SUV. It was a brand new Hyundai Sante Fe, “well-equipped,” as the ads liked to say. He let his fingers slip along the gleaming taillight as he made his way around to the driver’s side. The vehicle was a little more (okay, a lot more) than he had wanted to pay, but what did it matter now? It was time to live.
He had wanted black, but the salesman had put the screws to him, telling him there were none in that color right now, not with all the toys. And yes, he’d wanted the toys, wanted them now. He had settled for the Sleek Silver, or whatever the guy had called this particular blend, only because it had all the toys. Either that, or be stuck with that god-awful white, or worse, wait two weeks for the black. Like that was an option.
He put his hand to the door and stopped. A thick September breeze kissed him, and he turned back to the house. It was their first real home, a fully detached nest of half-brick, half-siding, a pair of those corkscrewy tree-thingies that looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss nightmare in front, a big juniper out back. Above the mailbox and screwed into the brick was a solid black eight—curiously the age of his son, Kyle—as if to drive his misery home.
Had he locked the front door? Like their rapidly dwindling savings, it seemed so unimportant now. Almost comical. He took a last glance about and got in. He hadn’t even buckled up when Sandy gave him that look again. The one that said, What’s gotten into you?
He forced a smile, and for the moment it seemed to work. She didn’t need to know. Not this minute, anyway.
“Why that one?” she asked, staring at the GPS unit on the dash. He had bought it two weeks ago from an eBayer named CowboyRex out of Forth Worth. “You were what—two?—when that was on TV?”
He supposed he deserved his wife’s sarcasm. He’d had it coming for a while now. “Sure, it’s corny. But it’s cool. And I was seven, by the way.”
“Ah, well, that makes all the difference,” Sandy said, checking herself in her flip-up mirror. “I suppose it drives, too? Fires lasers or something?”
He switched it on. A bank of red lights on both sides of the unit lit up, the attendant voice that of actor William Daniels. “Scott,” Daniels said, “I’ll power up all systems.”
“Ohhhh, brother,” Sandy said. “You’re kidding me.”
“What do you think, sport?” Scott said to the rear-view mirror.
Kyle Fisher had his headphones on, tapping foot and finger to his iPod Nano. Scott had surprised him with it last week. Sandy had asked why, Kyle had just had his birthday last month, and they (that is, Scott) had spoiled him rotten, something they’d (he’d) never done before. Scott’s answer of Why not? hadn’t pleased her, not at all. He guessed he couldn’t blame her. Not the way he was acting lately. Like a kid in a candy store with a no-limit credit card.
Sandy turned to the back seat and motioned to her ear. Kyle ignored her request to lower the volume. “Scott, would you?”
Scott listened to the tune coming from Kyle’s headphones. The music was edgy, ten times harder than Scott’s conservative palette, his hardest the occasional Black Sabbath. Lately, though, he was branching out, from Scorpions to Chopin. The Black Eyed Peas. Sinatra, of all things. Even some old Elvis.
“Keep it down, sport,” Scott said, and Kyle deferred. “You’ll end up like Grandpa. Deaf as a doorknob.”
“That’s cruel,” Sandy said. “It’s not his fault.”
“Sorry,” Scott said, half-laughing. “But sometimes, I don’t know if the man’s ignoring me or just plugged up. Seriously, he needs to see a doctor.”
“At least his problem’s just earwax,” Sandy said. “He doesn’t suffer from MSH, like some people I know.”
“MSH?”
“Male Selective Hearing.”
“What’s that? Did you say something?”
Sandy swatted him playfully.
Kyle sat forward. “What is that, Dad? A GPS?”
“It’s called a mid-life crisis,” Sandy said.
Scott stuck out his tongue at her as he fumbled with the Mio Knight Rider. He pushed a couple of buttons, and K.I.T.T. asked him where he wanted to go.
“How ‘bout back to CowboyRex,” Sandy said.
Scott gave her a look above his glasses with a shake of his head. He turned to his son and asked what he thought.
“Kinda cool,” the boy said. “But kinda lame, too. He’s got a funny voice.”
“Why do we need it?” Sandy said. “Last time I checked, we could still read a map.”
“So 2009,” Scott chuckled. “Everyone else has one.”
“Since when has that ever bothered you?”
Scott started to say something, but didn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to. Not without breaking down and blubbering like a lost child.
I hope you enjoyed this teaser. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Special Discount — 50% OFF
Never Too Late is $2.99 on retail sites like Amazon. In my online store, it’s only $1.99. But today, I’m offering an extra 50% off, exclusively in my online store. At checkout, enter NTL50 as the discount code and you’ll get the book for just 99 cents! This a limited-time offer that expires on Sunday, January 7, 2024 at midnight—and don’t hesitate to pass this on to friends and family.
