The Seduction of Carter Ridge: A Novella

By Buck Jones

The Seduction of Carter Ridge (A Novella), by Buck Jones

             

FOR FANS OF GORE VIDAL OR ANDRE ACIMAN, A CHARMING NOVELLA THAT EXPLORES A YOUNG MAN'S FIRST EXPERIENCE AWAY FROM HOME.   

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Turbigo Media LLC
• Release date: Jan 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985404319

Book preview

THE SEDUCTION OF CARTER RIDGE

(A NOVELLA PREQUEL TO THE LAST GOOD REPUBLICAN)

BUCK JONES

Turbigo Media LLC Turbigo Media LLC

The Seduction of Carter Ridge — A Novella © Copyright 2021 by Buck Jones / Turbigo Media LLC

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, character and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 979-8-9854043-1-9

CONTENTS

The Seduction of Carter Ridge

Author’s Note

About the Author

Acknowledgments

THE SEDUCTION OF CARTER RIDGE

1952, Columbia, South Carolina

The governor’s office in the State House of South Carolina is on the west end of the ground floor. A spacious marble and mahogany framed space that resembles a mausoleum, in a beautiful Greek Revival style building where hope goes to die. Carter weaved his way past the tourists and government staff across the white and pink marbled floored lobby for his appointment with Governor James F. Byrnes, his heels echoing amidst the din of the throng.

Nearly seventy years old, the former Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court and former Secretary of State under President Harry S. Truman, Governor Byrnes was also a family friend, having been a regular at his mother Idella’s Saturday evening dinners when he was first the local judge at the Aiken courthouse, and then the U.S. Representative for their congressional district. He and his wife, Miss Maude, usually sat in the pew behind the Ridges at St. Thaddeus Church on Sundays, and when Carter was a little child, Maude Byrnes would dote on him, giving him candies and children’s books. She was never able to have children of her own, and it was not much of a secret that Carter was her favorite of her friends’ children.

The last time Byrnes had seen Carter was when he had come home from his studies at the university in Atlanta for his father’s funeral. Byrnes had driven down from Spartanburg to give his condolences to Idella and the family, and had stood next to Carter as an honorary pallbearer at the church. When he saw Carter’s tall figure winding through the crowds, Byrnes rose from his desk and smiled, waving Carter inside.

Carter Ridge! My word! Are you still growin’, son? You look wonderful! he said as he grasped his hand and gave him a big hug. Carter reciprocated, nearly enveloping the tiny, bald-headed senior. How’s your momma doin’?

She’s fine, asked me to give you and Miss Maude her very best, he replied with a wide grin on his face. Is it always so bustling in here? It’s like Grand Central Station!

Oh, it’s school field trip day. My secretary told me that four different high schools are visiting today, plus some Negroes from Orangeburg. Sit down, son, sit down.

Byrnes was a Southern Democrat with a slightly more moderate perspective on race relations than many of his contemporaries. He was still against integration, having stated in his inaugural address in 1951 that he would