Twenty Twenty Vision

By Xlibris US

Marcus Jones just turned 30, and has it all, a great job, great friends and family, a great kid, and a great wife. Everyone seems to know it but Marcus. It doesnt take much to lose it all. It takes a ambitious stripper Crystal to show him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499003796

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Mike J McCoy.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4990-0378-9

                eBook         978-1-4990-0379-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/21/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Morning, 5:00 Am

Lunch, Noon

Afternoon, 5:00 Pm

The Morning After

Lunch Date

The Fallout

The Aftermath

The Rebuilding

The Future

MORNING, 5:00 AM

A middle-aged man is rolling around the bed as the alarm clock is going off and the phone is ringing all at the same time. After a few seconds, he sticks his hand out from under the covers and stops the alarm clock and feels around for the phone. As he grabs the phone, he pops to his lap and looks at the clock. It reads 5:00 a.m.

Marcus

Ahh. Hello!

Mother, over the phone

Happy birthday, baby.

Marcus

(Sighs, rubs his hair, looks at the clock.)

Mom, I’m thirty. You don’t have to call me at the crack of dawn on my birthday anymore.

Mother

Boy, I will call you anytime I want. You ain’t never too old to know that it’s your birthday, and I will call you every damn day if I want.

Marcus

(Jumps out of bed and feels around the nightstand for his glasses.)

Look, thanks. It’s just so early. I can’t function this early. I kind of got a lot to do.

Mother

What! You’re working today?

Marcus

Yeah, what else am I going to do?

It’s a Tuesday.

Mother

Maybe call your wife.

Marcus

(Finds his glasses under a bunch of papers on the nightstand and gathers the papers and starts to read.)

Mom, are we really going to go there? Today! I can’t call her. I really can’t.

Mother

Yes, you can. She still loves you.

Marcus

(Walks in the bathroom with his cell phone between his shoulder and ear, stops in front of the mirror, and stares into it.)

Look, I’ll call her one day, not today. We have Taylor, so I am kind of stuck with her, huh.

Mother

Look, people make mistakes. And she’s a good woman, and Taylor needs you two to be together.

Marcus

(Looks into the sky.)

Have you been watching Oprah reruns again? I know, Mom, but she cheated on me.

(Looks back into the mirror, pulls out a gray hair off the top of his head.)

And I just can’t look past that right now. I love Taylor, and I’ll do right by her.

Mother

(Cuts Marcus off.)

You know, your father—

Marcus

(Cuts his mother off.)

Don’t bring him into this. I just need a little time. It’s all good. I can handle it.

Mother

Okay. Well, I love you.

Marcus

(Puts his glasses on then puts his hands on his hips, looking

at the floor.)

Love you too. Thanks. And slow down on that opera and you can call after five.

Marcus hangs up the phone, puts it on the counter, and with his glasses on, he leans over and stares into the mirror again with a straight face for about a second. Then he smiles.

Music.

Marcus jumps into the shower, dancing and singing to the music in the shower, and gets out of the shower dancing. He smells one T-shirt, making a funny face and tossing it like a football. He finds another T-shirt, puts it to his face, and smells it. He shrugs his shoulders, puts it on, and looks into the mirror for a second then starts dancing again. He continues to get dressed, dancing the whole time. He irons and dances. Climbs above the bed and matches socks, dancing. He puts on his pants and buttons up his shirt, belts, shoes—everything up to the tie. He holds up two ties to the mirror.

Music stops.

Marcus pulls out tie after tie—a red one, a blue one, a green one, a Christmas one, a fish one, a Western one, a skinny one—and now has a pile of ties in the middle of the bedroom floor. Marcus stops for a second and puts his hands on his hips and looks at the pile in disbelief.

Phone rings.

Marcus, with his hands on hips, pulls the phone out of his pocket and looks at it.

Marcus

Baby girl!

Taylor

(Five-year-old daughter of Marcus, still in pigtails and bows.)

Daddy, Mommy wants to know if you are going to make me late for school again.

Marcus

No way! I got you. I am on my way.

Taylor

(Looks at her mother.)

Hurry, hurry. Mommy said hurry.

Marcus

(Still looks at the pile of ties.)

Okay, okay. Ask Mommy which tie goes with the blue suit. It’s Tuesday.

Taylor

(Runs over to her mother in the kitchen in the other room.)

Mommy, Daddy wants to know which tie goes with the blue suit.

Alica

(A tall middle-age professional woman)

(Puts on earrings in front of a mirror and rolls her eyes.)

The red one.

Taylor

Red, Daddy.

Alica

(Makes a confused face.)

It’s Tuesday. The blue suit is for Friday.

(Shakes her head and smiles.)

Tell him to hurry up!

Taylor

Daddy.

Marcus

Okay, okay. Ice cream for breakfast.

Taylor

Really?

Marcus

(Cuts Taylor off.)

Shhhh. Bet I can make it before it melts.

Taylor

It’s going to melt.

Marcus

We’ll see.

Marcus hangs up the phone, puts his phone in his pocket, gets on his hands and knees by the pile of ties, digs out the red one, puts it on in front of the mirror, poses, then runs to the fridge and grabs a pint of ice cream, grabs a workbag, and runs out the door. He peels out of his driveway.

Marcus pulls up to a suburban house in a neighborhood, singing along to the radio. As soon as he pulls up the driveway, Taylor runs out with her book bag, followed by her mother. Marcus jumps out of the car.

Marcus

Baby girl, let’s.

Taylor

(Waves to her mother, running to the car.)

Bye, Mommy.

Marcus

(Holds the door open for Taylor, smiling at Alica.)

Seatbelt. Let’s go.

Alica

(Stands in the doorway, hiding a wrapped present behind her back.)

Marcus.

Marcus

(Slams the car door, walking around the car.)

Okay, school. See yah.

Taylor

(Rolls down the window, whispering to Marcus.)

It’s melting.

Alica

Get over here… now.

Marcus slams his car door and walks slowly over to Alica at the front door. As he passes the car, he winks at Taylor in the backseat. Marcus slowly approaches the front door with his hands in his pocket.

Alica

(Leans toward Marcus as he approaches the steps and

whispers to him.)

I got you something.

Marcus

(Smiles.)

Really?

Alica

(Hands him the box from behind her back and continues to whisper in his ear by now.)

Really. We miss you. Come home tonight. I’ll cook