Hampton Revived

By D.Ray Doyle

The main character of this story, John Hampton, twenty-eight, is a clinical social worker trying to make a living running a private practice out of the house bequeathed to him by his beloved maternal grandfather. To supplement his inconsistent income, he maintains his part-time job at the meat market, where he has worked since high school.

His personal life is a mess, having been cuckolded, dumped, and subsequently divorced while in his early twenties following the death of his day-old son, his only child. He is estranged from his father and brother, and his mother died when he was thirteen. Hoping to meet new friends and hone his limited musical skills, he answers an ad to volunteer at a nearby fledgling group home for developmentally disabled adults. In this capacity he becomes embroiled in a myriad of organizational and personal complications, one of the most significant being managing a street-smart resident whose antics terrorizes the staff and the other clients.

Although the group home endeavor eventually ends in a series of mishaps, deceits, and tragedies, Hampton perseveres, attempting to reconcile some of his private losses, in the process becoming a bit less isolated and cynical.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504915458

D.Ray Doyle

D. Ray Doyle is a native of Buffalo, New York; for thirty-five years, he lived and worked in Rochester, New York, as a clinical social worker and licensed psychotherapist. In “Hampton Revived” (part of the Hampton Trilogy) a grieving young therapist, working in a struggling solo private practice, finds his life getting a lot more complicated when he volunteers to help with a music program at a fledgling group home. It is the author’s first published book of fiction aimed at adults. He has self-published two collections of stories for children. Doyle is retired and lives with his wife in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

Book preview

© 2015 D. Ray Doyle. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  06/17/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1544-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1545-8 (e)

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.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Hampton Revived is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. There has been no intention to portray events as accurate representations of real incidents. Resemblance to any locales,organizations, events, or persons, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

To Diane, for all your loving support.

CHAPTER 1

Artie Michaels studies the lunch crowd in the half filled bistro. He finishes his ginger ale and the bartender, a young guy with a hip haircut and easy manner, offers a re-fill; Artie waves him off.

You from around here? the young guy inquires.

Nope- just in town for some family business.

Meeting someone?

Yeah says Artie. I guess you could say that.

He slides a dollar tip across the marbled surface and the bartender scoops it up and uses a clean cloth to wipe down the section of the bar that Michaels briefly occupied. Thanks- have a good lunch.

Artie gives a nod and gets off the stool, walking towards the corner booth occupied by a husky, well- dressed man who sips lager from a frosty mug while studying his phone.

You’re Dr. Frankson from the University, right?

The psychologist grins at the Ichabod Crane look alike standing before him.

It all depends – who wants to know?

Artie pulls a revolver from the back of his black chinos and grips it with both hands; Frankson cowers into the corner of the booth, both hands over his head.

Whoa, whoa, whoa- there’s some kind of mistake here…

A few people shriek when they see Artie pointing the gun; within moments all the patrons and most of the staff rush towards the parking lot, yelling warnings as they exit, leaving upended chairs and more than a few jackets and purses behind. A waiter comes towards the booth when Frankson’s beer glass falls off the table and shatters but joins the others when he sees the armed customer. Artie Michaels keeps staring at Frankson.

Here’s a gift from my dead son for all of your so-called help.

Please, no…I don’t understand…

Artie fires a bullet into Frankson’s forehead and puts two more into the man’s torso. Lowering the weapon he looks around the empty restaurant. He checks that Frankson is not breathing and has no pulse and then stands tall and puts the barrel of the gun into his own mouth. Closing his eyes Artie pulls the trigger and collapses.

CHAPTER 2

John Hampton squints at the scale and puts a few more chunks of ground chuck into the paper container.

You really shouldn’t crunch your face up like that, scolds his elderly customer. Get yourself some eyeglasses- your face will be all lines and creases before you’re thirty…

That will be here before I know it he says, smiling. Can I get you anything else? She gives him a sour look and stares up at the ceiling.

I will take that as a no he mumbles and wraps the hamburger in some white paper before placing it next to her other items. Sal the chunky assistant manager taps him on the shoulder and nods towards the rear of the store.

Hey, Freud, Brucie says to see him when you’re done with your customer.

Hampton gives him a fake salute. As you command, sir… Sal rolls his eyes and walks away.

Your name tag says John but he called you Fred, the customer says furrowing her narrow brow. Which is it?

Hampton shrugs. Oh, that’s just my nickname; my real name is John. They actually like to goof around and call me Freud, not Fred, cuz I also work as a therapist…You know, Sigmund Freud- get it- kind of silly, huh? Do you want anything else, some eggs or cold cuts?

Her frown returns so Hampton goes through the cashing out ritual and gives her the groceries. Shuffling to the back of the store he adjusts his clip-on bowtie and name tag. Stopping in front of the converted closet that serves as the manager’s office Hampton taps his knuckles on the half-opened door. Brucie, nearing retirement and appearing more sullen than usual, looks up from his computer.

Hey, Bruce- Sallie said you wanted to see me…I think I know why… Hampton steps into the crowded office and closes the door before sitting in the one vacant vinyl chair next to the cluttered desk. The manager grins and raises his bushy eyebrows.

Oh really he says. This should be a good one- why do you think I wanted to see you?

About how I made a mess of the cheese wheel earlier…

Bruce looks at the clipped tiled floor and nods his head. Yeah, well, no that’s not it at all, but now that you mention it, don’t do that again…Leave it for one of the full-timers.

Okay, fair enough- will do. So what is up?

Bottom line, it is not, I repeat not, good business for you to be hustling your other business on my time. I saw you give your card for counseling to that guy earlier- kinda tacky, to tell you the truth…

It was really no biggie…The guy said he was going through some stuff and I told him I could refer him to somebody. What do you want me to say?

Bruce’s face reddens and he leans towards Hampton. Gee, I don’t know- maybe say what any of the rest of us schmucks would have said. Tell the guy to hang in there, everything will be okay, time heals all wounds- and would he like to try the two for one strip steak special!

Okay, all right, Hampton says, nodding. That makes sense…I wasn’t thinking clearly- it won’t happen again…Are we good?

Bruce slouches in his chair. "Not quite. I hear you will be bouncing out early again today, which means that once again you are gonna come in under the twenty hours for the week…Headquarters is tightening up on things, especially for part-timers getting health care…

I thought I’d stay late tomorrow, or make it up next week…

Not an issue now but soon it will be. So don’t bullshit me, Hamp, are you gonna be coming and going a lot now with all the crazy stuff with that shrink getting wasted the other day?

Naw, I really don’t think so…Today I gotta head out for some Church business- they finally opened the spot for Gramps’ ashes…This was the only time the priest had available for the next two weeks…

Bruce shrugs. Things are tough all over, I guess. Just saying that it seems you’ve been taking off a lot lately… Hampton stands and opens the door.

Guess we will have to agree to disagree on that one, Bruce. I’ll keep an eye on it…

"Yeah you do that, John. Hey, and fix your hat, will ya? It’s all cockeyed making you look like a