Hello all! I'm excited to launch the official blog tour for author, Kerry Letheby. Kerry is an inspiring writer that hails from Australia. Kerry is the author of "Mine to Avenge." This is a gerenrational saga about a vendetta between two Greek families.
She has been nice enough to provide me with Chapter One of this book. For your reading pleasure, begin the journey below. Enjoy!
Mine
To Avenge
Author:
© Kerry Letheby
All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the author.
This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any
resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or
locales is purely coincidental.
National
Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author:
Kerry Letheby
Title:
Mine to avenge/Kerry Letheby
ISBN:
9780646579146 (pbk.)
Dewey
Number: A823.4
Chapter 1
TRAGEDY
IN MANHATTAN
Manhattan:
11 September 2001
It
was Tuesday. At last it was Tuesday.
If anyone outside had been able to
see the window of a suite on the thirty-fifth floor of a certain Manhattan
hotel on this particularly bright and clear Tuesday morning, they would have
noticed two children, noses pressed flat against the glass, looking out. It was
impossible to clearly see their faces, because the two noses were surrounded by
halos of fog, rapidly expanding on the window.
As the excited children stared
outside, they wiped away the fog created by their hot breath. The azure sky
stretched away into the distance above the horizon of jagged skyscrapers. Not
even the wisp of a cloud smudged the brilliant blue canvas framed by the
window.
‘When are we leaving, Mum?’ cried
two young voices in unison.
‘Soon,’ came the reply. ‘When you’ve
cleaned your teeth, we’ll be ready to leave.’
Fifteen minutes later, the
children and their parents walked out of the cool foyer onto the Manhattan
pavement. It was teeming with people, all in their private worlds—with their
business papers either tucked under their arms along with newspapers and stock
market reports, or folded inside smart briefcases. The children were amazed
that everyone was able to skillfully navigate without bumping into each other.
It was all new and fascinating to them, but for the people hurrying by it was
daily routine. It was the morning rush to work in Manhattan, the same every
day, and no different on this glorious September morning.
The children, Mila, a boy of eight
and his twelve-year-old sister Alethea, each clutched the hand of a parent, and
were doing everything they could to pull their parents along at a faster pace.
A knowing glance passed between the parents, as the man winked to the woman
with a smile.
Alethea turned to her father and
took hold of his hands, leaning back into her young frame to brace herself as
she tried to pull him along faster. She saw him limp slightly, and suddenly
remembered his bad leg. She looked enquiringly into his face, concerned that
she might be pulling him too hard. He smiled at her in reassurance, so she
resumed her grip and pulled harder.
‘Come on, Daddy,’ she pleaded. ‘We
don’t want to leave Uncle Theo waiting for us all day.’
The family had arrived in America
from Australia the week before, and the children had hardly slept since. Everything
was different and exciting, but a greater anticipation was fuelling their
excitement and sleepless nights. At the end of every day since they had
arrived, they asked: ‘When are we going to see Uncle Theo? Will it be
tomorrow?’
And each time, their father
replied: ‘Tuesday—we’ll see him Tuesday. It won’t be long now.’
Uncle Theo was their father
Nicholas’s younger brother. He managed a travel agency business and was in
Manhattan to open the latest branch. His visit there coincided with family
holidays for Nicholas, his wife Nina, and the two children. Nicholas and Theo
were close, particularly since the tragedy of losing their father. The
children, too, loved Uncle Theo. He played with them, told them jokes and
brought exciting souvenirs home from his round-the-world travels. They always
looked forward to seeing him.
Nina knew that Nicholas was
looking forward to seeing his younger brother again and was grateful for this
diversion in their lives.
For three months now, Nicholas had
been troubled by something, but he hadn’t confided in her, keeping his worries
to himself.
As well as being withdrawn and
secretive, Nina noticed other things that puzzled her. Nicholas was overly
preoccupied with their financial affairs. At first, she gently asked questions to
try to find out what was happening, but was brushed aside. She sometimes woke
at night and heard him in the study, working at the computer and opening
cupboards and drawers. Once, she even heard him sobbing quietly.
She remembered that there was some
talk of insanity and mental breakdown in the men of her husband’s family. Her
husband’s father and uncle both disappeared mysteriously years ago, after
months of odd behaviour, and nothing was ever heard of them again. The police
assumed they had both had breakdowns and committed suicide. Nina was possessed
by the fear that this awful thing was now becoming apparent in her own husband.
Nicholas didn’t immediately warm
to Nina’s suggestion of the trip to Manhattan to see Theo, as Theo was planning
to be back in Australia by Christmas. However, he suddenly changed his mind,
and Nina was relieved. He threw himself into the family plans with zeal, and
was almost his old self again. Nina silently rejoiced. However, Nicholas still
didn’t disclose anything about what was troubling him, but she hoped that he
might at least be able to confide in his brother.
Alethea and Mila were also
troubled by the changes in their father. The children loved Nicholas to tell
them stories of his childhood escapades with Theo, and how they were
mischievous little boys for their parents, Grandpa Dymas and Grandma Charis,
but with the changes in their father the stories stopped. The children missed
this side of him, but as the family came together to plan the trip of a
lifetime, they were overjoyed when Nicholas also resumed the family stories.
Theo booked the family’s
accommodation in a Manhattan hotel in the Financial District. He told them that
the hotel was conveniently located to many tourist activities and close to
where he wanted to meet them on Tuesday.
When the family arrived in
Manhattan the week before, Theo was occupied with travel agency business and
out of town for a few days, so Nicholas and Nina used this time to entertain
the children. Their hotel suite was small, so it was pleasant to leave it each
day to explore.
They saw the Statue of Liberty and
the Brooklyn Bridge. They visited FAO Schwarz on Fifth Avenue, the most
wonderful toy store the children had ever seen. They went skating at Sky Rink
at Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River and stocked up on cheap video games from
J&R.
The highlight of the holiday in
Manhattan was an evening meal at Windows on the World, on the 107th floor of
the North Tower of the World Trade Center. They went shopping to buy new
clothes for the occasion.
Alethea and Nina found a boutique
where the shop assistants made a selection, after carefully examining their
colouring and profiles. Alethea chose a crimson silk dress that accentuated her
tall, slim build, and that also matched a rhinestone-studded side-comb she
always wore in her long dark hair.
Nina chose an elegant
three-quarter-length gown in a bottle green. The green colour was a lovely
contrast to her copper-coloured hair. Nina was Australian born, of English
descent. She was tall, with a pale English rose complexion. Alethea had
inherited her mother’s height and skin tones, but her glossy black hair came
from her Greek heritage.
Mila and Nicholas bought matching
father and son dinner suits with gold bow ties. They both had the black hair of
their Greek ancestors, and both wore it short, parted neatly on the right. They
were also fair- skinned, like Alethea and her mother. Apart from the dark hair,
there was little about them to indicate a Greek heritage.
The restaurant décor was elegant.
The children were enraptured by the view of Manhattan by night through the
floor-to-ceiling windows. As they ate, they were mesmerised by the city lights
below them, glittering like jewels. They pretended to be king and queen of all
they surveyed.
Lying in bed each night, they
chatted excitedly about the day’s adventures and waited impatiently for Tuesday
to see Uncle Theo.
Now Tuesday was here at last, and
they were on their way to meet Theo at a little church he found when he first
arrived in Manhattan.
~
As Theo strolled through Manhattan
on his first morning there, he turned east into Liberty Street, with the
massive World Trade Center complex looming on his left. However, it wasn’t the
impressive scale and height of the towers that attracted his attention that
day, but the smaller building on his right, tucked away in the shadows and
surrounded on three sides by a parking lot.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
seemed out of place, surrounded as it was by skyscrapers and the world of
finance and business. It was as if it had been lifted straight from a Greek
village. Theo’s heart skipped a beat when he saw it. His Greek Orthodox
heritage was important to him, but it was losing significance for some of the
younger members of the family.
A noticeboard outside indicated
that the church was open on Wednesdays for public prayer, so every Wednesday
while in Manhattan Theo made time in his busy schedule to attend. Many people
took advantage of the open church on Wednesdays, including office workers from
the World Trade Center complex on the other side of the street. Theo knew that
his brother, too, would love to see the church, having been named after the
same patron saint.
Theo was as keen to see Nicholas
and his family as they were to see him. When he spoke to Nicholas by phone on
their arrival, Theo detected a note of desperation in his brother’s voice, and
knew that something was wrong. As children, Nicholas was always there to rescue
him. Perhaps he could now do the same for his older brother.
Alethea and Mila were out of
breath but continued to pull their parents along, knowing that Uncle Theo was
waiting for them only a few minutes away.
‘Come, on, Daddy,’ Alethea
pleaded. ‘Stop dragging your feet.’
‘Slow down, Thea,’ he begged, with
mock exasperation.
Alethea glanced over her shoulder,
saw the twinkle in her father’s eyes and knew he was only teasing. Without
slowing her pace, she turned and caught her toe on a pavement slab. Nicholas
tightened his grip to stop her from falling. The sudden jarring of her body shook
her rhinestone studded side-comb loose from her hair. Nicholas bent to retrieve
it. He reached out to return it to her, but she brushed his hand away. ‘Keep it
for me, Daddy,’ she gasped, ‘I don’t want to stop and make us late.’
He smiled indulgently, placing the
comb in his trouser pocket.
Nina enjoyed watching this
interaction between her daughter and her husband. It was so normal—how things
used to be. Once or twice though, even here on the other side of the world, she
saw Nicholas looking over his shoulder with a haunted, anxious expression.
They continued south along Church
Street, passing St. Paul’s Chapel on their left. The cool green of the cemetery
beckoned to them and, for a moment, the children stopped tugging on their
parents’ arms when Mila thought he saw a squirrel dart from behind a headstone
and disappear into the ivy.
They walked on past the doors of
the Millenium Hotel. The front of the hotel faced towards the west and was
still in morning shadow as they walked by, in contrast to the dappled light in
front of St. Paul’s.
A little farther on, they turned
westward, and crossed Church Street into Liberty Street, with the morning sun
casting long shadows in front of them. Alethea turned to her father and saw
something in his eyes, which caught her attention. She looked ahead to where
her father’s eyes were focused, and saw a figure with the same tall, lean build
as his, and with the same dark hair, but more casually styled.
Mila saw him at the same time.
‘Uncle Theo,’ he called. He was about to run ahead, but his mother squeezed his
hand and bent to his ear, ‘Let Daddy go first,’ she whispered.
Nicholas went ahead of them, and
greeted Theo with a close embrace. Theo read more into the embrace than mere
brotherly affection. He was suddenly anxious. He began to think of their
father, Dymas, and Uncle Stepan, and thought to himself, ‘Please, not
Nicholas—not my brother.’
‘You’re late,’ Theo said to
Nicholas, in feigned anger. ‘Things haven’t changed much.’
‘Only by five minutes,’ Nicholas
replied with a smile. ‘It’s only 8.35—and it’s good to see you, too.’
The children laughed at their
father’s attempt to be funny. There had been so little humour from him lately.
Theo embraced his niece and nephew
and then moved to greet his sister-in-law. While his back was turned to
Nicholas, Theo’s eyes questioned Nina. She answered him with a barely
perceptible shrug. Theo didn’t know if her response meant that she didn’t know
what was going on, or that she had no idea whether anything was going on at
all. He couldn’t wait for a chance to speak to her alone.
‘Well, shall we find somewhere for
breakfast?’ Nina asked.
‘Sure,’ Theo replied, ‘but do you
mind if we have a quick look at this place first?’
They turned to the church, and
Theo gave a brief account of its history. He told them that the church was
named after St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, bakers and bankers. He
said that Greek sailors often went there to pray many years ago, because they
believed St. Nicholas would prevent their ships from sinking. He told them of
the ancient treasures it held, including relics donated by the last tsar of
Russia. Mila wrinkled his nose in disgust as Theo explained what relics were.
Suddenly they heard a plane flying
low overhead and they looked up, shading their eyes with their hands. They
couldn’t see the plane, but it sounded close.
Seconds later, there was a
sickening boom, and the ground rumbled beneath their feet. It was 8.46 a.m.
Everyone on Liberty Street stopped
to stare in disbelief as a plume of puce-coloured smoke curled its way skyward
from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
The family gasped with horror,
along with many other people standing nearby, as they realised that the plane
had flown straight into the side of the building.
Nicholas was the first to speak.
‘Nina, take the children back to the hotel—quickly. Theo and I will come soon.’
Nina looked anxiously at her
husband. ‘Can’t you come with us? Why do you want to stay? What are you going
to do?’
‘Don’t be scared,’ said Nicholas,
hugging her. He bent down to Alethea and Mila and put his arms around them.
‘Mila, Thea, go with your mother. I’ll be back with Uncle Theo soon.’
The children waved at Theo and
Nicholas with one hand, the other holding tightly to Nina as she hurried them
away.
They continued to look over their
shoulders until the growing crowds hid their father and uncle from sight. Many
people ran past them to get a closer look at what was happening. Nina and the
children seemed to be the only people running away from the scene.
Soon they were back in Church
Street, with Liberty Street behind them. They retraced their steps, half
walking, half running. There was a strong odour of aircraft fuel in the air.
Behind them, they heard people screaming. Everyone continued to pass them, going
in the opposite direction, moving closer to the disaster.
They retraced their steps past St.
Paul’s and the Millenium Hotel. Alethea and Mila were breathless. They felt the
urgency in their mother’s grip on their hands, and did their best to keep up with
her longer strides.
They were almost back at their
hotel when they heard a panic- stricken voice call out that another plane had
just flown into the South Tower.
Nina was thankful and fearful at
the same time—thankful that her children were away from the disaster, and
fearful for the safety of her husband and brother-in-law.
She led the children into the
hotel foyer. In a lounge to the side of the foyer, people were gathered around
a TV, watching the drama unfold. Nina and the children took the elevator to
their suite and sat down to catch their breath, and to wait for Nicholas and
Theo.
~
When they returned to Australia in
November, it was without Nicholas. When the first tower came down, Nicholas and
Theo were caught up in the aftermath. Theo barely escaped with his life and was
unable to find his brother. The family searched fruitlessly for weeks, placing
hundreds of photos around Manhattan, and scouring all the hospitals, but no
trace of his body was found.
About the Author
I was
born at Loxton, in South Australia’s Riverland region. As a child, I had little
in common with my peers and was a loner by nature, but never lonely. Most of my
friends were found within the pages of books in the school library, where I
spent most of my time. I developed a particular love for historical fiction,
and I also loved stories in which the characters demonstrated inspirational
courage. The origins of my writing are deeply rooted in this time.
When
I left school, I badly wanted to be an artist or writer, but my well-meaning
father told me that neither of these would pay my rent, and he encouraged me to
be a teacher instead. So I became a teacher, and taught for some years in both
the public and private sectors, having three sons along the way.
I
then moved from teacher to home-schooling mother and then into full time
pastoral care worker. This was followed by a lengthy career phase in the Mental
Health sector, and a short stint in aged care in the respite sector. I am
currently working as Case Manager in a Parenting After Separation program, a
job I love and am very passionate about.
I am
now living at Mt Gambier, in South Australia’s Limestone Coast region. In my
spare time I am finally pursuing my writing and other creative pursuits that
have been on the backburner for many years, such as calligraphy. I have begun
the sequel to Mine to Avenge, and expect that it will be completed sometime in
2014.
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