Nighttime Is My Time: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

reminded himself to call Gordie "Gordon" when they met at the cocktail party. Over the years he'd run into him a few times—uptight as they come and another one who'd been crazy about Laura.
    So was Mark Fleischman, the other guy being honored. At school Mark had never said boo to anyone, but you got the feeling there was a lot going on inside him. He'd always been in the shadow of his older brother, Dennis, who'd been an all-around big man at Stonecroft, top student, outstanding athlete. Everyone in town knew him. He'd been killed in a car accident the summer before their class began its freshman year. Different as day and night, the two brothers. It was well known around town that if God had to take one of their sons, Mark's parents would have preferred that he and not Dennis had been chosen. He had so much resentment built up inside him that it's a wonder the top of his head didn't come off, Robby thought grimly.
    He reached for his room key, finally ready to face the crowd below, and then opened the door of his room. I either disliked or hated just about all of my classmates, he thought. Then why did I accept the invitation to come here? He pushed the button for the elevator. I'll get plenty of new material for the act, he promised himself. There was another reason of course, but he quickly pushed it out of his mind. I won't go there, he thought as the elevator door opened. At least not now.
    9
    As they arrived at the cocktail party, Jack Emerson, the chairman of the reunion committee, invited the honorees to step into the alcove at the end of the Hudson Valley Suite. A florid-faced man with the look of a drinker, indicated by the broken capillaries in his face, he was the only member of the class who had elected to stay in Cornwall and therefore was in place to do hands-on planning for this weekend. "When we introduce the class individually, I want to save you and the others for last," he explained.
    Jean walked into the alcove in time to hear Gordon Amory observe, "Jack, I gather that we have you to thank that we're the ones to be honored."
    "It was my idea," Emerson said heartily. "And you deserve it, one and all. Gordie, I mean Gordon, you're an outstanding figure in cable television. Mark is a psychiatrist with a reputation for being an expert in adolescent behavior. Robby is an outstanding comedian and mimic. Howie, I mean Carter Stewart, is a major playwright. Jean Sheridan—oh, here you are, Jean, so good to see you — is a dean and professor
of
history at Georgetown, and now she's a best-selling author. Laura Wilcox was the star of a long-running sitcom. And Alison Kendall became head of a major talent agency. As you know, she would have been the seventh recipient. We'll send her plaque to her parents. They are very pleased to know that she is being honored by her graduating class."
    The hard luck class, Jean thought with a stab of pain as Emerson rushed over to plant a kiss on her cheek. That had been the term that school reporter Jake Perkins had suggested when he'd grabbed her for an interview. What he'd told her had been a shock. I lost track of everyone except Alison and Laura after graduation, she remembered. The year Catherine died, I was in Chicago, supposedly choosing to work for a year before college. I knew that Debby Parker's plane crashed, but I didn't know about Cindy Lang and Gloria Martin. And only last month, Alison. Dear God, we all used to sit at the same table.
    And now only Laura and I are left, she thought. What kind of karma is hanging over us?
    Laura had phoned to say she'd meet her at the party. "Jeannie, I know we were talking about getting together earlier, but I'm not nearly ready. I have to make an entrance with all flags flying," she'd explained. "My object for the weekend is to woo and win Gordie Amory so that I can play the lead in his new TV series."
    Instead of being disappointed, Jean realized she had been relieved. The respite had given her time to phone Alice Sommers, who