The Homestretch

Read this chapter for free below, and get  FORTRESS: a Wayfarers Story  in Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback here. The weather had been in a word – strange. But this was one of the rare, sunny mornings this cool and rainy season had seen, as the birds chirped merrily in celebration outside of forty-five-year-old Dave Jamison’s upper-level flat on North Peterboro Street in rustic Canastota, New York. Indeed, Dave was the antithesis of cheerful as he roared “aw, c’mon! This isn’t gonna get the rent paid this month” before slamming his right fist on the black particleboard desk that supported his PC. The desk also supported his cup of coffee, and the force of the paw making impact knocked the beverage over; whereby spilling onto the tan carpet of the white-walled, single-window spare bedroom that served as his pseudo office. “Not advertiser-friendly?” he growled, while working his fingers through his brown hair touched with grey, that had the day before received its monthly