Tribute to a Dead Friend

by

Suzanne Jenkins

Copyright © 2016 by

Suzanne Jenkins. All rights reserved.

Created in digital format in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in blog posts and articles and in reviews.

Tribute to a Dead Friend is a complete and total work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Free stories are delivered periodically to subscribers of the author’s newsletter. Go to http://suzannejenkins.net for more information.

Chapter 1

For the past three months, during long, nighttime telephone calls, I’ve listened to the lamentations of my friend while she lay dying. I didn’t go to see her often because I just didn’t; I couldn’t. My job isn’t the kind of job that I could leave for a long weekend without endangering it.

I’m going to see a friend who’s sick and will be back Tuesday.

No, that would not work at Craig Industries. Julie lived north of Sacramento, in Gold Mining country and I’m down in San Diego. It’s a long, seven hour drive up to her place, through LA traffic, San Jose and Silicon Valley. I don’t have the money to fly.

When she first got ill, her sister was able to be with her and her ex-boyfriend, Brian helped when he could. After she had surgery, someone had to be there in case she needed help walking to the bathroom, and to fix her cereal in the morning and soup and crackers for lunch.

Her mother, Marlene would come by at six with dinner, or her sister Jean would stop in with something she’d picked up