Lost Found Remembered

By Wm. J. Martin

3 short stories of love that is either lost, found, or remembered.
Mark lost his love many years before, and comes back to his hometown with his memories.
J.D. finds his way past old disappointments to a happy future.
Jake remembers Valentine's Day, and what it has meant to him over the years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wm. J. Martin
• Release date: Oct 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9780987743725

Wm. J. Martin

When I was younger I always had an interest in trying to do some writing, but it never came to much at all. About five years after I was forced to give up working due to disability I was finally able to take the step that had eluded me for years. My first experiment with writing was to try to write a 50,000 word novel in one month, using the parameters of the website National Novel Writing Month. It was a challenge I was fortunately able to complete, and I guess that got me over my initial hesitation. It's a website I would recommend to anyone who would like to try their hand at writing. I don't spend all of my time with this hobby as I still have my primary hobby of pursuing my family genealogy. The limitations placed on me with my MS also keeps me from spending as much time writing as I would like to sometimes. Add to that my normal bad habit of procrastination, and sometimes I wonder how I ever managed to get anything done.

Book preview

Lost Found Remembered

Three Short Stories

By

William. J. Martin

Catch Can Man

Leaving a Mark

Valentine's Day Memories

Published by William J. Martin at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 William J. Martin

ISBN 978-0-9877437-2-5

Lost Found Remembered

Three Short Stories

By

William. J. Martin

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents, and some places are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Other Smashwords Titles by William J. Martin

A Circumstantial Case

Lip and Annie

Secrets

Table of Contents

Catch Can Man

Leaving a Mark

Valentine's Day Memories

Catch Can Man

J.D. Smith crawled out from under the rear of the #64 stock car, and quickly brushed off his clothing. There was no real need to do this, as the floor was clean enough to eat from, but it was a habit that went back to his days of working on his own car in the driveway. He placed the clipboard that had been in his other hand onto the rear deck of the car, picked up his ball cap and placed it back on his head, but left the set of headphones and boom microphone around his neck.

Like the shirt that he wore, the sponsor's logo figured prominently on the cap. The shirt bore his surname centered above the large logo on his back, and the initials J.D. appeared on the front, above the shirt pocket, surrounded by smaller logos for suppliers and lesser sponsors.

J.D., with his neatly trimmed brown hair, and dark eyes, looked good in his uniform. It appeared to have been fitted specifically for his 6'1", lean body, as indeed it had been. The sponsors and NASCAR wanted all of the staff to look good when they appeared on television, as that occurred often in the days leading up to a race, as well as on race day.

He picked up the clipboard and began rechecking the figures he had written while under the rear of the car. The figures confirmed the settings of the track bar and wedge adjustment, information that the crew chief and head engineer had requested. They had to decide which further adjustments to make before final practice and qualifying, which were scheduled for the next day. He was concentrating heavily on the figures when he heard the first call.

John.

Something in the back of his busy mind told him the voice was familiar. While John was his name, it had been quite some time since anyone had called him by it. When he arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and gotten this job with AA Precision Racing, there were already two employees with the name of John, so he had been christened with the new name of J.D., which were his initials. He carried on with his work, ignoring the female voice that had called his name, assuming the call had been directed at someone else.

John... John Smith.

This time he was stirred from his state of total concentration, and looked up and around, trying to see who was paging him.

He had to turn fully around to see her, standing 30 feet away, and looking as beautiful as she had been the last time he saw her 18 months before. She had a small smile on her face, and it was evident that she was nervous as the smile came and went several times in the 15 or so seconds that he stared at her. Unconsciously he had grasped the spoiler on the rear deck of the car, gripping it tightly to maintain his balance. Seeing her had momentarily taken his breath away, and he felt unsteady on his feet.

Robin... where did you come from? It was the only thing he could think of to say, such was the shock he felt from finding her standing there.

Another smile flickered momentarily across her face, and then she spoke. I just flew in from Indianapolis this afternoon. I took a few days off from work, and I go back on Sunday.

Why are you here? His face tightened, and he continued, Where is Frank? He looked around, but didn't see Frank Newton's smirking face anywhere in the crowd.

I came by myself; I wanted to see you. The nervous smile came and went several times after she spoke.

J.D., do you have the figures? A burly man dressed in the same uniform as J.D stood near the front of the stock car,