Better Late Than Dead: Episode 3

This is episode three of the novel Better Late Than Dead. It is the 7th book in the Rich Larsen Adventure Series. An episode will be posted every Monday and Friday. 

Rich has returned to the home he ran away from six years earlier. He’s back living with his parents, hoping to make amends for the pain he caused them. Two years have passed since returning home. That’s where this story begins. 

Episode 3

Tension between Rich and Briggs escalated over the next two weeks. Three times, Briggs stormed from his office and slammed Rich’s work on his desk. Each time, Rich saw him coming. He did little more than raise an eyebrow. Rich knew that Briggs’ actions were meant to intimidate him. He was not about to allow himself to be intimidated by anyone.

However, Rich reasoned that he did not need this drama. At home, his mother and father had become distant. Maybe a twenty-four-year-old son living at home was causing unforeseen stress. He entertained the notion of moving away. He knew the day would come, but thought it might not come under the current acrimonious circumstances at the newspaper. And as for the relationship with his parents, it seemed to fade. Rich tried to open up an earnest conversation. However, his mother and father would say that was in the past and not to open old wounds.

It was Monday morning. Rich walked to his desk at 7:45. He grabbed the papers in his in-basket and skimmed through them. He set them aside and pulled his appointment book from his inside jacket pocket. He had a 10:30 appointment with a city councilman and a 1:45 appointment with a local union president.

The newsroom had a quiet phone booth where reporters could talk in private. Rich turned in his chair and looked at the booth. It was empty. He got up and walked to the booth. He sat and called the Augusta Times in Maine.

“Butch Hagler, please.”

Rich waited. “It’s Rich Larsen.”

“Rich Larsen! I was just thinking about you. Are you in town?”

“No, I’m calling from my hometown newspaper in Ohio.”

“I always wondered what happened to you and if you were in that mess with Sam White up in Rockland. Man, that was a shocker.”

“Sure was.”

“So, besides the local newspaper, what have you been doing? When did you leave Rockland?”

“I left Rockland just before things happened in Rockland with Sam. Actually, Sam gave me his sailboat.”

“His pride and joy?”

“Yeah, he had a baby and said he’d never sail it the way he wanted to. So I put some work into it, and on a whim or whatever, he gave it to me. I left Rockland six years ago. I sailed Sam’s boat around the world. That took four years. I was married briefly, but my wife died suddenly.”

“Oh, Rich, I’m so sorry to hear that. How long ago did it happen?”

“A little more than two years ago.”

“That’s so sad. I don’t know what else to say.”

“You’ve said all that can be said.”

“What brought you back to Ohio?”

“I need to reconcile with my parents.”

“And?”

“Not so good. I’m thinking about moving on.”

“Do you need a job or reference? I’m the news editor. A big shot now. I drive a Porsche and have a mortgage.”

Rich chuckled. “And I have a room with my parents, drive an old Jeep.”

“But ya don’t have a mortgage,” Butch quipped. “Tell ya what, Rich, you get up here the first of the month, and I’ll match whatever the Buzzardville Crossing Gazette pays plus ten percent. I’ll even put you up for a couple of weeks until you find your own place.”

“That’s music to my ears.”

“So Thomas Wolfe was right,” Butch said.

“Yep,” Rich said, “you can never go home again.”

“I look forward to seeing you,” Butch said.

“Likewise.”

Rich hung up. He walked out into the newsroom. The room was full, and typewriters clattered out the news of the day.