Neighbourhood Tangle - Volume 1 - JED: Keeping Up With the Neighbours Series 2, #1

By Tracy Krauss

They're back! The Malloy family is taking over the neighbourhood! Jed - a 'down-home' boy from Newfoundland who's a bit rough around the edges - moved 'out west' several years ago, but now his raucous family are joining him, one by one. A confirmed bachelor, Jed finds himself attracted to a hairdresser who he mistakes for her identical twin sister. Just when Jed thinks he's ready for love, he finds out that their moral standards don't align. In anguish he turns to alcohol – the one true friend that has never let him down.

Note to readers: This series, although labelled 'Christian', contains elements that may be troubling to some readers, such as the use of alcohol and pre-marital sexual encounters. (The latter take place 'off camera'.) There is, however, a faith based element throughout with a strong redemptive message at the end of the series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fictitious Ink Publishing
• Release date: Aug 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781988447162

Tracy Krauss

Tracy Krauss is a best selling and award winning author and playwright. "Fiction on the edge without crossing the line"

Book preview

SCENE 1

Jed Malloy shuffled barefoot down the narrow hallway and let out an inadvertent groan. He was shirtless, bleary eyed, and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. The price of too much holiday cheer the night before.

He ran a hand through his thick brown hair, making it stand on end. He squinted when he reached the brightness of the main living space. Coffee. He needed coffee and lots of it.

A loud snore followed by a snort, a groan, and a sigh broke the morning stillness. The noises came from the living room couch. Jed grinned. He and his brother Zeb had bantered – okay, argued - far into the early hours. They’d consumed more alcohol than was good for them, trying to solve all the world’s problems in one night. It was the way they operated. Always had. Good natured but competitive. As the closest brothers in age out of a family of nine, the battle had started early.

Bo and Reba, two of Jed’s other siblings who were visiting for the Christmas holidays, had crashed earlier than he and Zeb. Bo was still sleeping on the floor in Jed’s bedroom. Their sister Reba got the privilege of the spare bed. She’d passed out on the couch and Jed had moved her sometime after midnight.

Jed loved his family, but a week in their company was starting to take its toll. Too many late nights along with everything else it entailed and he was beginning to feel his age. Having to get up for work this morning was both a blessing and a curse. He felt like crap, but on the other hand it might bring some normalcy back into his life.

He made some extra noise as he prepared the coffee, banging a cupboard door here and a tin there, just for effect. If he had to get up for work, the rest of them might as well feel his pain. The growl from the couch brought another wide smile to Jed’s face. When the coffee was ready, Jed filled an oversized mug and then clattered the coffee pot back onto the warmer. He took a tentative slurp, released a satisfied expletive, and shuffled from the confines of the galley kitchen to the living room only a few feet away.

Jed stood over his brother’s sleeping form for a moment. Zeb was a giant. He was probably the only man who had ever beaten Jed in a fight. Not that Jed was small by any means. They were both above average height and broadly built, like Gramps on their Pop’s side. But with a full red beard that contrasted with unkempt dirty-blonde hair, Zeb looked like a mountain man – or a grizzly.

At 32, Jed was the eldest boy in the family, but Zeb was right behind him at 30. They had one older sister who was 33, and then a string of siblings after. His parents were staunch Catholics who didn’t believe in contraception – at least not in those days. Nine children in eleven years was the result.

Jed grabbed a stray cushion and thumped it across Zeb’s head. Wake up, ya lazy bugger. The days half over.

Zeb cracked open one eye and then shut it again. Get lost.

You’re some crooked contrary this mornin’. I’m off to work. Don’t sleep all day. And look after the kids. Don’t let ‘em wreck the joint.

As if. Zeb’s voice was muffled by the cushion.

What’s a matter? Can’t handle yer liquor anymore, or what? Jed’s own head was pounding with the dullness of a hangover, but he would never admit it to Zeb.

Zeb told Jed exactly where to go and in no uncertain terms. Jed just smiled and downed the rest of his coffee. His brother was crass, but he’d missed him. He’d missed all of his family, but he was ready for a break. Even he had trouble handling more than one Malloy at a time.

SCENE 2

Jed shuffled into the makeshift lunchroom and surveyed the inhabitants. He spotted his friend and co-worker, Lester Tibbett, sitting alone at a table made of plywood and sawhorses and headed his way.

It