The Serpent Mind

Richard Dibble

Description

Rick knew that she had some issues. What he didn't know was how deep they went. Ones of Rick's faults is that he trusts others and wants to help. This blinded him to the real problem that he was about to face. A problem that no one could imagine...except Monica. Rick was not prepared for the roller coaster ride of his life. A ride that would last eight months with the line between reality and fiction being crossed over so many times, it had Rick questioning things he knew to be true. It was all very confusing until the day the serpent appeared. At that moment, it became clear what was going on and what needed to be done.

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Serpent
• Mind
• Serpentes
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 17 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669836032
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Serpent Mind









Richard Dibble



Copyright © 2022 by Richard Dibble.

Library of Congress Control Number:
2022914039
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-3607-0
Softcover
978-1-6698-3604-9
eBook
978-1-6698-3603-2

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.

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

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






Rev. date: 07/28/2022





Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
844254



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
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37



CHAPTER 1
Rick opened the door and went inside his small two-bedroom apartment, threw the mail on the table, and sighed. It wasn’t much to look at, but he fixed it up with some paint and spackle, and it was only temporary until he retired in a year and a half anyhow. It didn’t matter how bad it looked; it felt good not to be at work and to get in and out of the cold. It was your typical January day in Buffalo. Cold, blustery, and just plain miserable. Reason number 1, he wanted to retire. It was January 2, exactly eighteen years on the department, and Florida was only 730 days away.
Work wasn’t much better. It was a long day at the firehouse with the usual number of calls and only a handful being serious enough to call 911. Rick worked at the busiest firehouse in the city of Buffalo. They averaged between eight and twelve calls a day, with most of them able to wait until they could get to their primary doctor. After serving fifteen of his eighteen years at Engine 2, he was burned out. Reason number 2, he wanted to retire. He took it all in stride despite knowing he was on the downhill side of his career. Being only forty-seven and retired at forty-nine put a big smile on his face. Not many people could do that, and he knew he was one of the lucky ones.
After brushing off the snow and taking off the many layers of clothing, he looked at the mail. Typical mail day. Junk. At least there were no bills , he thought. He opened the refrigerator and wondered what was for dinner. Nothing jumped out at him, so he turned to the pantry. Same results. Back to the refrigerator to find some cheese slices which turned into grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Perfect. Rick didn’t make his grilled cheese sandwiches like most people. He would put two slices of cheese, diagonal of course, with some grated parmesan sprinkled on top, followed by some garlic salt and topped off with a slice of onion. Mmmmm, it didn’t get much better than that on a cold January day.
After dinner, Rick went upstairs to the computer to check his email and messages from his new dating website. Junk mail, junk, junk, spam, spam, stupid joke. Seems like a typical email day as well. Let’s check the dating site. He didn’t have much hope in the results, but he figured what the hell. A friend had told him about the site, and he decided to give it a try. Rick had just come out of a long-term relationship that had ended badly, where his girlfriend of eleven years had cheated on him. Like most people, men and women alike, they never see it coming, and it always hits hard. It was easier to deal with this time though. Three years prior, she had cheated on him and then begged for him to take her back. He did, and like all cheaters, she did it again. One of life’s lessons that always seems to be learned the hard way.
Eight new messages. Cool! He started reading through the profiles. One rule he has, if you don’t have a picture, you don’t get a response. He was certain he had passed up on some women who may have been his match, but a rule is a rule. He figured that he had a picture there for you to see, so you should have a picture there for him to see.
Oh boy! She should take her picture off, he thought as he chuckled to himself. Seven messages to go. These two are smokers. Five more to go. It occurred to him that a person searching through endless online dating profiles was looking for a needle in a haystack. He tilted his head and asked himself, “Is that a guy?” Four more to go.
Well, what do we have here? She’s kinda cute. What does her message say?
“I’m probably too far for you. But it’s worth a shot.” Too far from me? Where is she? He pulled up her profile and read through it. Forty-four-year-old with two teenage kids, self-employed, five foot seven, 150 pounds, dark hair, green eyes, New Jersey. New Jersey? Yeah, that’s kinda far. He did a Google search and found that it’s about a six-hour drive. But she has dark hair and green eyes. If he has a soft spot, it’s for light-colored eyes. What’s it going to hurt to write back? It’s just being polite really. I do believe that it’s dating site etiquette to respond just to let the other person know that you got their message whether you’re interested or not. He knew that he just deleted four messages without a reply, but that’s really not a rule, more of a guideline. So he wrote back just to test the waters. It wouldn’t be the first time that he has written back and didn’t get a response, which was why he’s not holding his breath.
“Too far? I guess that depends on what you’re looking for.”
“I’m looking for a hot firefighter with a long hose that puts the toilet seat down. LOL.” Shit! She’s online! He thought about checking that first but decided not to. Dumb decision number 1. He was not prepared to talk right now, and this caught him off guard. What does he say? She knew he’s online, so not responding would be a shithead move.
“Well, I suppose two out of three ain’t bad! Lol. I’ll let you decide which two those are!”
“Well, I’ve already seen your picture, so I know you’re hot. Hmmm, long hose or puts the toilet seat down? I’m going with long hose!”
“Sorry! Just your average guy here. But I do put the toilet seat down. You can thank my mom for that lesson. Lol.”
“I like your mom already. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Whoa, cowgirl! Lol, I don’t mean to prioritize things, but don’t you think you and I should meet first? Maybe after seeing each other a few times, we can think about introductions to the family. Lol.”
“You’re right. Just making conversation. I’m Monica BTW. So you don’t think New Jersey is too far?”
“Nice to meet you, Monica. I’m Rick. Like I said, it depends on what you’re ‘seriously’ looking for.”
“Nice to meet you, Rick. I would like to eventually find my soul mate, but in the meantime, a new friend with the possibility of turning into something long-term would be good too.”
“I don’t mind new friends. I’m not holding on to the idea of finding anything long-term in this area anyhow. I’m retiring in about two years and moving to Florida. So I would have to find someone that is willing to uproot everything and move with me. That’s a tall order.”
“I’ve always wanted to move to Florida. I’m sick of the New Jersey area and need a fresh start.”
“That’s cool. Where in Florida? Do you have family there? Friends?” Rick asked.
“I have some family there around the Orlando area and some friends on the Atlantic coast near Fort Lauderdale. Where did you want to go?”
“I was the actually thinking the Fort Lauderdale area because I have a job offer and friends there and it would be an easy transition. My sister lives between Orlando and Tampa.”
“That’s awesome! Sounds like you have a plan. Do you think this would be easier on the phone?”
“LOL. Probably. Seeing as how I type with two fingers, and you clearly type faster than I do.”
“Call me. 201-555-6259.”
“Give me few minutes.”
“OK.”
Rick logged off the computer and sat there for a few minutes, trying to digest what had just happened and what was about to happen. It seemed pretty harmless. It also seemed kinda weird. It had been a while since he had been dating, and he wasn’t sure if he knew what to do or even what to say. He rationalized it by concluding that this had to be taken in baby steps. First, we “talk” on the computer. Check. Then we talk on the phone. Then we can meet if everything goes well.
He did make note of a couple of “red flags.” First, she wanted to meet his mother within the first few sentences of talking. Was she kidding, or was she serious? Second, her willingness to move to Florida so quickly. Was that genuine? He wondered what he was doing. Was it just insecurity about dating again, or was there something to it? His gut said one thing, but his head said something else. In the past, he