Brake Failure
"He what? Drove the car into the fucking what?"
"You heard me. Miller’s Pond."
"You’re not serious?"
"Why do you think I called, because you’re my favorite person in the world?"
"You’re telling me that your son drove my classic VW Bug into the pond?"
"My son? Like you’re not his father."
"And how much time did you let me spend with him? You and that two-bit shyster lawyer of yours who screwed me out of visitation rights."
"Does San Quentin ring a bell? Do orange jump suits ring a bell?"
"Okay, okay. But I was framed. How is Jake anyhow? He get out okay?"
"Yeah, he’s fine, just a little green around the gills and red in the face. Didn’t pull the emergency when he was out there with his latest love."
"Not a mistake I ever made."
"How am I supposed to forget that, with Jake to remind me?"
"Well, if I’d have taught him to drive, this wouldn’t have happened."
"Yeah, sure, but you were framed, remember? You weren’t there. You were the guy facing the video camera."
"Hey, can you hold on a sec? My other line is ringing. . . Okay, back."
"Who was that?"
"Since when do you care?"
"Well, I was thinking."
"Thinking what?"
"Jake’s feeling really down."
"Well, he fucking should feel down."
"No, I was just thinking that maybe, you know, the three of us could have dinner together."
"Cheer him up."
"Without what’s-his-face?"
"Yeah, without Mike."
"Where?"
"I was thinking the Lobster Shack."
"You were thinking the Lobster Shack? You know why I called you Gil? You have the short term memory of a fish. I hate lobster. I’ve always hated lobster. When we met I hated lobster. I still hate lobster."
"Give Jake a call then. Cheer him up a bit. He’s a good kid, just made a mistake."
"Like some people can and others can’t?"
Townsend Walker draws inspiration from cemeteries, foreign places, violence and strong
women.
A novella in noir, La Ronde, was published by Truth Serum Press in June 2015.
Some seventy short stories have been published in literary journals and included in nine
anthologies.
Awards: first place in the SLO NightWriters contest, second place in Our Stories contest, two
nominations for the PEN/O.Henry Award.
Four stories were performed at the New Short Fiction Series in Hollywood.
Educated at Stanford (economics and creative writing), New York University (economics and
anthropology) and Georgetown (foreign service).
