Men of All Seasons Box Set

The Fine Art of Reading Riley-5

Stone had learned from a demised friend that gifts to people were to be more personal than a kiss. At first, he felt appalled by such a practice, but as he had grown older, a whopping three decades, plus two years, he had learned that a gift had turned out to be a way to touch the human heart that made it burn with joy, love, and a searing sensation.

And so Stone set out to find Lance Bangle the perfect birthday present. It had to be a certain piece of jewelry that clearly had some spunk to it and melodramatic symbolism. Since Lance had the life of a yo-yo, doing unthinkable tricks to stay alive through his infiltrated tragedies (drug and alcohol use, homelessness, and the suicide of his mother), Stone wanted the piece of jewelry to state hopefulness, remembrance, and survival of all things in the past, present, and in Lance’s unfamiliar future.

To find such a piece of jewelry, he decided to shop at The Diamond Abyss, a jewelry store on Cullen Avenue in downtown Plimpton. The store sat approximately four blocks away from Turn the Page Books. After dropping off his collected box of books inside his BMW, he walked the four blocks to the jewelry store, needing and wanting the exercise.

Snow and wind brushed against his face. The extreme chill started to freeze his system, reaching through his North Face jacket. He exhaled a plume of what looked like smoke, resembling a dragon. His pace quickened as he walked through the winter wonderland, caught up in the icy weather. Stone enjoyed winter, but didn’t want to lose a limb from gangrene because of the low temperature and wicked wind. Everything about the day felt biting and like a frozen tundra, which caused Stone discomfort with unclear thoughts.

As he trotted down Cullen Avenue, keeping to the right on the sidewalk, strolling more than walking, he recalled that his nephew, Lance Andrew Bangle, had had a unlucky life ever since he was a young boy. Stone’s twin brother, Samuel, had met Trina Bangle, Lance’s mother, at the age of twenty-two during Samuel’s senior year at Dartmouth. Trina was thirty-seven at the time, divorced, and just so happened to be raising a teenaged Lance at the time. Trina had no association with Dartmouth in the slightest, except for almost running Samuel and his bicycle over with her VW Bug on Dartmouth property. Thereafter, Samuel, suffered from minor cuts and bruises. Trina, having learned to be careful on her bike, decided to date Samuel sporadically, became lovers with the man, and married him three years later.

Lance confessed to Stone numerous times that his mother and Samuel fought almost twenty-four hours a day during their two years of marriage. Name-calling was primal and unending in their relationship. A few cheek-slaps, cheating on each other, and deceit were all common traits in the marriage.

Lance confided in Stone and told him, “My mother and step-father are fire and water.”

Because of the trials and tribulations at home, unwilling to surrender himself to his mother and step-father’s brutal hostility, Lance ran away from the couple and became homeless, living on Plimpton, Templeton, Erie, and Codiver streets for almost eight months. Stone then took the boy under his wing and housed him, fed the poor thing, and dressed his nephew, accomplishing stability in Lance’s life.

Before Stone’s interception in the boy’s street life, Lance did an arrangement of drugs, slept with men for cash, and sometimes stole money to survive. None of those actions caused Stone to judge his nephew, though, knowing he had suffered dearly under his mother’s and Stone’s brother’s questionable care.

Perhaps the most tragic event in Lance’s life was the suicide of his mother. Trina Bangle failed to be mentally stable and consumed many prescription drugs for a balance. Stone believed schizophrenia could have been easily diagnosed had the woman been psychologically analyzed, as well as other psychological disorders.

Because of Trina’s mental condition and the unstable and aggressive marriage with Stone’s brother, the woman became powerless, insane, and eventually hung herself in the spring of 2011. Stone had found her dangling from the bedroom ceiling in his brother’s Malibu beach house, swinging to and fro with a snapped neck, a purple and yellow cadaver that could no longer be considered anyone’s mother. Trina offed herself as quickly and quietly as her son had taken to the streets.

Hardship reined without any limits in Lance’s life, which caused Stone to become a father-like figure in the young man’s life for the last few years. Not only had he made sure that Lance wasn’t homeless, providing a room for the young man, but he had kept Lance from taking drugs and selling his body for cash. Stone also had promised himself to feed and clothe the young man and keep Lance from offing himself the way his mother had.

As of late, Lance happened to be doing well. He was turning twenty in a few days and leaving for Tokyo with one of his best female friends, Yoko, where he would stay for the next month. Of course, Stone paid for the Japan trip, forking out six thousand dollars for his nephew to enjoy his travels in the East where he could consume sake, Japanese pop culture, and be an expert of Feng Sui and Sudoku.

Stone thanked all the gods in heaven that his nephew hadn’t been living on the streets anymore, residing temporarily with him, Tender, Yoko, and a number of men he occasionally slept with. Such comfort would be coming to an end, though, and soon. For now, Lance resided stateside for the next week, safe under Stone’s close care and readying himself to fly the thousand-plus miles to Tokyo. Stone planned to give Lance a few of the Robert Riley paperbacks he collected for his nephew’s travels, novels Lance could read on his flights to and from Japan and in his spare time when he wasn’t experiencing the Japanese culture of sushi, game shows, and Godzilla.

Presumably, Lance was supposed to attend Stone’s book function, although Stone knew he didn’t like most of the book club members and maybe didn’t even like the books. Lance basically attended the gathering to enjoy the opportunity to discuss the ins and outs of Robert Riley’s writing style, even with members he didn’t care for. Something about Riley sparked Lance’s interest that Stone honestly couldn’t pinpoint. Perhaps because the Pittsburgh-born and—raised author had written of s*x, drugs, rock-and-roll, homelessness, divorced parents, and Japan; all topics Stone’s nephew could relate to. Then again, Lance rarely, if ever, talked about the writer and maybe didn’t like his novels and their shared themes.

Everything about Lance Bangle seemed like a mystery, Stone thought, and one he would never figure out in its entirety. Not now and certainly not when he returned from Japan with Yoko. Lance would always be clandestine to him, even if Stone considered him a son-like figure in his life, part of him, and beloved.