The Lonely and the Disabled

By Louis DeCaro

This is a poignant love story about the lives of eight people in a typical small town. The Lonely and the Disabled will capture the readers attention from the very first page.

Lou DeCaro has once again crafted a novel that is an absolute must-read.
Ray Buurma

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514480694

Louis DeCaro

Lou DeCaro is the author of “In the Dim Light of the Day” (Xlibris, November 2012), “Marshmallow Dreams and Bitter Tangerines” (Xlibris, October 2013), “Anthony” (Xlibris. January 2014), “The Blind Eye of Love” (Xlibris, October 2014), “Once a Widow, Ever a Wife” (Xlibris, January 2015), “The Champion of Love” (Xlibris, April 2015), “Forever and a Day” (Xlibris, August 2015), “The Rose of Cuba” (Xlibris, November 2015), and “The Writer of Lies” (Xlibris, January 2016).

Book preview

Chapter 1

My name is John Solomon. I am a private investigator, but I also enjoy writing romance novels when I have the time. Currently, I am writing a novel about a love affair in a small town. Actually, it’s about several love affairs. I find small towns fascinating. Small towns have a special kind of ambiance all their own. It really doesn’t matter what state or region of the country the town is in. You can learn a lot about people in a small town.

I always found small town diners and bars very interesting places. If you want to get a good idea what the people in a small town are really like, these are the places you should visit. Chances are you’ll get a totally different impression from one place to the next. Yet both establishments offer valuable insights into human nature worth exploring.

Last winter, I spent some time in a small New England town. One Saturday morning, I decided to treat myself to breakfast at the local diner. Shortly after I arrived, a couple with two young children and their grandmother came into the diner. The children were adorable, but the parents were very shallow and the grandmother was extremely pompous.

That evening, I decided to visit the local tavern. Most of the patrons I met were down-to-earth and had nothing to hide. They either told you the truth, or didn’t say anything at all. At the helm of this ship of misfits and broken hearts was the captain, better known as the barmaid. I felt like I knew everyone, and was very comfortable the entire time I was there.

Not too long ago, I decided to look at some real estate in Florida. A good friend of mine told me about it. Even though I already owned a beautiful home in Jupiter, I figured I had nothing to lose. I got the directions from my friend and left the following Saturday morning to take a look. It took me five hours to get to the town, and another hour to find the property. Instead of driving home late that afternoon, I decided to stay at a local motel.

Around midnight, I was awakened by the couple directly above me. Unable to fall back to sleep, I got dressed and walked fifty yards to a lounge that was located adjacent to the motel office.

Why not, I figured. I hadn’t been in a lounge like this in years.

There were only six people in the bar when I walked in the side door a little past midnight. The first one I met was the barmaid.

Good evening, the barmaid said. She had blonde hair and a fully developed figure, and didn’t look a day over eighteen. Before I could return the greeting, she threw down one of those cardboard coasters on the bar.

My name is Jessica. What can I get you?

I felt a little intimidated at first. Here I was sitting at a bar at midnight in a strange town being asked what I wanted to drink by someone who was younger than some shoes I had in my clothes closet back home.

What do you have on tap, I asked with an air of indifference.

After Jessica rifled off a the list of offerings, I settled on a light beer.

As I took my first sip, I caught sight of a very beautiful woman sitting with a fairly handsome young man a couple of seats away from me. Her name was Brittany, and his name was Roger.

Chapter 2

Brittany and Roger were the kind of couple you could find in any honky tonk bar across America. She was the most beautiful woman in the bar at the time, and knew it. On the other hand, Roger was the best looking guy in the bar. He was Brittany’s former boyfriend. Brittany dumped Roger about a month ago because she was bored by him.

I decided to turn my attention towards this young couple and try to eavesdrop on their conversation. Apparently, Roger was trying to convince Brittany to give their romance one more chance. According to Roger, it wasn’t his fault he lost his last job and stumbled on some back luck. But you could tell Brittany wasn’t sympathetic. She probably became tired of his loser attitude and record of going nowhere, so she decided to use her physical assets to land a bigger fish in this small pond called Ashville.

Actually, Roger wasn’t a bad young man at all. A native of Ashville, Roger came from a genuine Florida family whose roots could be traced back before the Civil War. Roger was the oldest of five children. His father was a construction worker who had a habit of hanging out for a couple of hours at a local gin mill after work every day. When he was home, he spent very little time with his children, and was seldom seen with his wife in public. She always had a tired look about her. It was a look of despair that was typically seen on the face of a woman that was neglected or abused,

When Roger entered high school, he made a name for himself by becoming the school’s starting quarterback. In fact, he made the varsity team in ninth-grade, and went on to set a whole variety of team records. When the college scouts came around to recruit Roger, it appeared the hometown boy was about to make it good. But his drinking and poor academic performance caused an abrupt end to his college career. He returned home after only six months, and became the town’s laughing stock and embarrassment. Most of his high school classmates wouldn’t given him the right time of day because he disappointed them so badly. The same held true for his high school sweetheart as well. Brittany Combs was one year younger than Roger Wright. At first Brittany tried to defend her beau. But in the end, her parents looked down on their relationship. Roger became a