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First Edition Design Publishing - Kyle Mathis

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108 pages

English

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Caleb was an average guy with average guy problems. He never seemed to have enough money, he hated his job, and he hated his live-in girlfriend. He felt trapped and he didn't know what to do. Everyone needs a little help once in a while. Coming home late from work on a Saturday night to his inebriated girlfriend was the last thing in his life he needed. After yet another blowout fight, he escapes to the home of his two best friends. Spending his last $41 on cheap beer, cigarettes and a lottery ticket seemed like a great reason to drink himself into a coma. Upon his return the following morning to his apartment, with a hangover riding shotgun, he discovers that his girlfriend has packed up and left him. His best girl-friend, Delaney, decides to take him out for brunch to cheer him up. During so, he discovers a new fortune that awaits him: He won the lottery. So an average guy is now thrown into a not-so-average lifestyle. While learning to balance his new fortune and old life, new challenges are dropped at his feet. He rarely makes the best decisions and ends up alienating his best friends, his closest girl-friend, and his family. Throughout his short "spiritual" journey he tries to understand himself, women, and the meaning of life. A Lot of Life is a fun read with elements of dark humor. It explores some of the "what ifs" some of us have fantasized about, if we ever won the lottery. It tackles issues of self-esteem, spirituality, carnal hunger, and excessive gluttony in life. I'm not sure how many of us would do the right thing when presented with some hedonistic options. Caleb is just another guy in his strange new world.

Informations

Publié par	First Edition Design Publishing
Date de parution	15 décembre 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781622877539
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

A Lot of Life

Is Winning it All
Worth Losing Everything?

By Kyle Mathis
A Lot of Life
Is Winning it All Worth Losing Everything?
Copyright ©2014 Kyle Mathis

ISBN 978-1622-877-53-9 EBOOK

October 2014

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means ─ electronic, mechanical, photo-copy, recording, or any other ─ except brief quotation in reviews, without the prior permission of the author or publisher.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

A Lot of Life
www.alotoflife-thebook.com
This is dedicated to Mimi and Shay.
I would like to thank my mother and father who have always believed in me.
My grandmother who taught me to forgive.
And the countless women who didn't do either.
Without any of them, this book would have never happened.

Also . . .

Thanks to Christopher, Allison (editor) and Shane.
For the many years of childish behavior and a plethora of inspiration.

And special thanks to Roxanne. For your beautiful soul.
I

He stood at the base of the stairwell, looking at each individual step. It was three flights up to his apartment. The funny thing was the elevator was just around the corner. And yet he stopped in front of the stairs contemplating which would be less work. Yea, he was that tired. It was Saturday night and he was just returning home from work. His supervisor was such an asshole. Caleb knew the only reason he was stuck working on a Saturday was because his supervisor wanted to go fishing this weekend. Caleb had heard him talking about the "big trip" all week. So on Friday, as Caleb arrived seventeen minutes late, his supervisor was waiting with a prepared speech. Something about punctuality, hard work and being dependable. Then his fat ass dropped a mound of paperwork on Caleb's desk and told him he would have to finish it over the weekend.

Caleb was still staring at the steps. "Baby steps", he thought. "One foot in front of the other and one step at a time." Lethargically Caleb moved up the stairwell. As he arrived at the second flight, he could hear his girlfriend's raspy voice on the phone. Her voice was loud. Uncommonly loud. Caleb was pretty sure she had hearing problems. As the steps were conquered one by one, her voice became louder and clearer. He knew what he was about to face. Dominique had been drinking . . . Again. She was fired up. He stopped four feet from the front door and contemplated turning back around. She was pacing. He could hear her high heel shoes clanking on the tile in the kitchen. Caleb could hear her pouring herself another glass as the wine bottle clinked against the glass.

As his key slid into the keyhole, the inside of his apartment went dead silent. This was very unusual. Dominique always had the television on. But nothing today. No sound, no raspy voice. He could hear a mouse fart, if there was one in the house. Cautiously he opened the door, as if walking into an ambush. Peeking through the cracked door, he could see Dominique staring at him from the living room. Caleb entered the apartment and closed the door. He stopped with his back turned toward her. And then he just waited. The first fifteen seconds would tell him all he needed to know. Either she was in the mood for some lovin' or she was ready for war. Dominique was usually ready for war.

"Where the hell have you been?" she barked. She knew exactly where he had been. He kissed her on the cheek when she was sleeping this morning. He kissed her and said he was off to work. She also knew why because he bitched about his boss for an hour the night before. She knew where he was. She just wanted to fight. Slowly he turned on the balls of his feet, almost in a defensive manner, and faced her. Dominique was a mess. Caleb imagined what she looked like when she left that afternoon. She was wearing a silver opaque dress that cut above the knees. Her stilettos were navy blue with tiny skulls on the straps. Her golden flowing hair was curled and pinned up, only accented by her perfectly applied makeup. He had been with her so long that he forgot how beautiful she was when she was in the mood to impress. That was what she looked like when she left the house. She went shopping with the girls around lunchtime. All that really meant was martinis and mimosas. What returned home was yet to be desired. There was an orange juice mimosa stain on the front of her dress. Her hair had fallen on one side and looked fuzzy and frizzed. Her expensive shoes were scuffed from tripping too many times. And her makeup was smeared on one side. Dominique didn't even seem to notice. Her lipstick was all but a trace. For a split second Caleb wondered if her lips had graced too many martinis, or another man's lips. What was left over for Caleb to deal with was a train wreck fueled by liqueur and low self-esteem. And so it began.

It was one of a thousand fights they had had over the last six months. The confrontation progressed into another self-loathing argument about money and finances. Caleb sat on the couch, panting from the return fire screaming. He tried to be patient and calm. Unfortunately, screaming louder than her was the only way to communicate. All he could do was focus on her flaring nostrils during her rage. Her mascara had made its way down her face. Black chunks of makeup were clumped in the corners of her bloodshot eyes.

Things were different before. Dominque was quite the catch six years ago. She was younger and her naïveté was attractive. She tried to impress his friends and prove herself among the other girls. No one thought they would last as long as they did. Caleb didn't think they would last this long. He had never dated a woman as beautiful as she was. He was mesmerized by her quirky sense of humor and her artsy style. She would paint and write poetry. She had such a promising future ahead of her. Dominique could have done anything, but the club life sucked her in as it did so many other pretty young girls. Her life became more of a game of lies and debauchery. Like many couples, they just drifted apart.

"I need some air," he adamantly spoke, still staring at her flared nostrils. "I'll be back after I cool off." He twirled around and snatched the keys from the china dish by the front door.

"Don't turn your fucking back on me!" she screamed.

"You need to cool off too," he mumbled as he opened the door. "I'll be back late."

As he pulled the door shut, he could hear her screaming. Dominique had this boisterous scream: half yelling, one-fourth crying, and one-fourth pure bitch. He was used to it. That being said, it didn't mean he wanted to be around it. In the beginning, it used to get to him as with every man. The crying, that was. Now he was just annoyed. He knew it wasn't real. It was just alcohol-induced. Caleb nimbly took the stairs with his newfound energy.

He unlocked his Ford POS (piece of shit) and crawled into the driver seat. He hated this fucking car. When it pushed fifty miles an hour, a funny little bird tweet sound came from deep within it. The lock on the glove compartment squeaked all the time. The passenger side door was covered in dings and scratches. Every time Dominique got out of the car mad, she would hit the car door on the pole that held up the covered parking. Of course with promises of "never doing it again." She would. When he turned the key over, the engine would emit this slow, pathetic whine. Caleb was pretty sure there were seven or eight mice in the engine block on a wheel, powering the engine. He knew almost nothing about cars. He couldn't change the oil to save his life, much less find the mice. But it didn't mean they weren't in there. As he looked in the rear view mirror to back up, he could see Dominique watching him from the third story window. She dangled a wine bottle loosely from one hand and her cell phone in the other. He didn't know where he was going. It didn't really matter.

He just drove. He thought about his life. Or lack of one, rather. Caleb was very ordinary. He wasn't an unattractive guy. Yet he wasn't exceptionally attractive. Just a regular guy. His job as an accountant at a Nobody firm was pulling in a whopping $47.5k a year. He did the mandatory hour a week in the gym just to keep the gut at bay. He used to work out. Some might say he was buff at one point. But those days were long past. His hairline wasn't fooling anyone, either. At least he wasn't graying yet. Stopping at a light, he gazed at himself in the tiny cracked rearview mirror. Puffy eyes and tired looking skin was no way to start a weekend.

He wondered how his life had gotten like this. How he and Dominique had gotten there. They were so in love at one point and had plans. Big plans for the future. He never planned on being an accountant. She was going to finish school and go into international imports. It's funny how your life's aspirations and dreams just disappear right in front of you and you don't really see it happening. One day he just woke up next to someone that hated him, put on a sloppy, untailored suit, and drove to an office to work in a cubicle for less than fifty thousand dollars a year. Worse than that, everyone thought he had a great life. Everyone thought he was happy. Everyone thought they would be together forever. Nobody ever really stopped to ask him if he was really happy. In fact, he never thought to ask himself "are you happy?" Until now.

"Are you happy?" He said to himself in the mirror. He looked over and realized the driver of a Honda was watching him talk to himself in the mirror. He didn't care. "Caleb . . . Are you happy?" And then there was a honk. The light