Chapter 1
Smitten, adj: struck by; afflicted; very much in love with.
—Dictionary.com
Friday, April 14, 2017
Jesse Fitzpatrick stood at the kitchen window, studied the empty driveway to the A-frame’s left, and sighed. A few scattered events rolled about his skull: his sister’s wedding was in a week, and he still needed a date to the function; it wouldn’t stop snowing, even though it just happened to be midmonth; Corralito “Carr” de Vantino was expected to pull in his ice-covered, asphalt driveway from an extended stay in Ecuador with the Armistice Coalition (AC). AC, a group similar to the Peace Corps, gained private funds from local high-end businesses in the tristate area to accomplish its worldly work.
How long had Jesse’s best friend, Carr, been away from Plimpton, Pennsylvania? Almost two years. At thirty-eight, a low-paid, lead crusader for AC, Carr had spent the time away from Lake Erie, building houses and water systems for third-world Ecuadorian communities. For the last twenty-two months, Jesse had kept in contact with his best friend via handwritten letters and very few calls. Carr lived in the Amazon jungle, southeast of the country’s capital, Quito, and didn’t have access to Wi-Fi.
Excited to see his best pal, Jesse watched the snow fall from the heavens and glaze the driveway, creating what looked like beautiful icing on a wedding cake as opposed to a blistery wonderland with springtime already one month into its term. Fortunately, Carr was taking a cab from the county airport to Jessie’s A-frame abode in the woods and next to the lake, presumably carrying the same large canvas bag he had left Plimpton with almost two years ago. Jesse had calculated the cab ride at twelve miles, which translated to forty minutes because of the unhelpful weather, maybe even fifty minutes.
Jesse’s reflection appeared in the kitchen window as he looked outside: ginger hair, soft green eyes, no facial hair, freckles over his nose and cheeks, a cleft in his chin, thin chest but with some muscle, and narrow shoulders, proving he sat and watched television or read instead of working out. One-hundred and eighty pounds of muscle on a six-one frame. The reflection pegged him as physically fit, a salad-eater, nonsmoker, social drinker, and handsome, but not in a Hollywood way like Chris Hemsworth.
Twenty minutes ticked by at the kitchen window. Thirty minutes. Anticipating Carr’s arrival, Jesse looked at his cellphone and saw it was almost five in the evening. The overcast caused the twilight hour to look dismal and dark. Snow started to twirl beyond the kitchen window, accumulating on the ground.
He swallowed saliva down the back of his throat and eventually whispered, “You’re late for everything, buddy. Always late.”
Time for a cup of coffee with just a splash of whiskey. Why not? Maybe the beverage would calm his nerves down. He fetched a ceramic mug from a cupboard, filled it three-fourths full, and added two splashes of Jack Daniels. Jesse took a sip next to his familiar window and decided it had gone done smooth. Still watching.
Jesse and Carr had been best friends since middle school, when Carr’s family moved from Buffalo, New York, to Plimpton. The two had become top-notch video game players back then. Number one (and two) Goosebumpsreaders. Britney Spears lovers. They had done everything together inside and outside Plimpton Middle School. Thereafter, high school years followed. They tried out for track together, hung around with Martin Meltz, and went to prom during their senior year, but not together, both having the time of their lives. When the pair graduated from PHS at the top of their senior class, Carr decided to enter the AC, and Jesse attended Templeton College, located some ten miles from the house he had grown up in on Dadhi Street.
As Jesse obtained a degree in finance from Templeton, Carr traveled around the world: Congo, Bolivia, Indonesia, and just about every corner of the globe. Time, as if it had no limits, and love slipped between the two friends. They saw each other on and off and throughout the next twenty years following their graduation day at Plimpton High School. Their visits together were short and sweet, always. Carr’s job had landed him in the most beautiful places of the world: Victoria West, South Africa; Meru, Kenya; or Kurna, Turkey. The two men usually had dinner together, drinks, and minimal conversation. Never had they kissed. Carr was always somewhere different in the world to save a ruined, third-world community, helping prevent suffrage among humanity, and changing underprivileged civilizations for the better. And Jesse visited him, traveling to the places where Carr worked for AC, always thrilled to see the guy.
Truth told, in Jesse’s opinion, their visits were far too short when he traveled to faraway lands to see Carr. Sometimes even only hours long. Carr’s life with the AC had caused the friends to always be distant from each other, for decades now. Jesse had never gotten used to Carr’s temporary visits in Plimpton, or how they sometimes met in Berlin, Rome, Rio, or elsewhere on the planet. Life in the AC had caused such hardships for families and close friends, including Jesse’s and Carr’s friendship.