Dicky's Story (working title)
an excerpt

Here's a first draft summary of the 1st three chapters, or the start of what will accompany a partial submission to Kensington Books. I'm working on getting the whole, finished book out before the end of November instead of starting something new - or polishing last year's NaNoWriMo project, the Lacey / Rainey story :-)))).

For more on Dicky's story, check out my LiveJournal - http://webbiegrrl.livejournal.com/

Enjoy!

-sry

Set in the far-future, hundreds of years after an unknown apocalyptic event forced a large group of people underground, DICKY (POV) lives as a professional Thief wandering the tunnels and hallways of the Colony to steal a living from his more propsperous neighbors.

As the story opens, it's Dicky's birthday and his friends, JOE and ROSIE, trick him into going to a surprise birthday party his adopted parents, JAKE and CLAIRE, are throwing for him. Joe explains there was a cave-in overnight and urges Dicky to help his folks prepare to evacuate. When Dicky realizes it was all a ruse, he's a little put off and steps out of the party into the hall, where he meets ITZICK (aka the KID). Or the Kid is standing there waiting for him, Dicky isn't too sure which. All he can tell for certain is that the Kid is a Black Coat, one of the religious types around the Colony who talk a gibberish language of their own and wear long black coats over modest, dark clothes and under big black skullcaps, which explains why they're called Black Coats.

The women are worse, wearing long cloaks that totally conceal their appearance. In a flashback of reverie, Dicky recalls having seen a Black Coat woman, LEAH, when he snuck into her place to steal food and got stuck in her Pantry with a View when she came in seeking a midnight snack. He nearly got caught by spending more time ogling her than paying attention to his hide. Just as the Kid is condemning him for leering at a woman that way—and Dicky is trying to figure out if the Kid is reading his mind—the ceiling in hallway outside Jake's place caves in on them. Happy birthday, Dicky.

As the dust settles, Dicky takes stock of his friends, noting the deaths of VINNY THE SNAKE and DONNY under one pile of rubble and under another, MATTIE, a former girlfriend who was whisked away by Dicky's best friend, TOMMY. On second glance, it turns out Tommy is missing, too, but Dicky finds him severely injured in the kitchen. Tommy's injuries are severe enough all are agreed he might not make it but the Kid reveals he has some kind of magic healing powers and uses them on Tommy, healing his leg and head wounds completey. LEFTY LARSON, sees this little talent of the Kid's as a goldmine waiting to be harvested. Dicky begins to suspect that the Kid didn't just get lost in front of Jake's door entirely by accident.

In return for healing Tommy, the Kid barters Dicky's assistance in rescuing some Black Coats he claims are trapped down a hole in the floor to the next level. Off go Dicky and Claire to rescue Leah, her brother, RUEVEN, and Rueven's friend, ARIEL, who is suffering an injured leg. When Dicky meets Leah in real life, he's as taken with her as he'd anticipated and then surprised to realize she recognizes him as the Thief from the Pantry with a View. There is an immediate chemistry between them but it's more conflicted than harmonious. The Kid has decidedly attached himself and by default, the other Black Coats, to Dicky and his friends, much to the discomfort of all involved with the sole exception of the Kid, himself.

Rueven tells Dicky the story of The Lost One in which Dicky learns that the Kid, Itzick, has one other living relative, YOCHANAN, who is the Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Black Coats settled in the Madrid Region (on the other side of the world). The Lost One is a nephew of Yochanan's who was lost at the age of three, nearly thirty years earlier. Rueven doesn't come right out and accuse Dicky of being this Lost One guy but the thought starts niggling at Dicky's backbrain and it's not a happy-making thought for him.

After hearing this story, Dicky starts looking for a way to shed the Black Coats. This is when Dicky spots ROLLY whose wife, LEXY is a much-feared childhood nemises of Dicky's. Much to Dicky's dismay, Lexy is not dead but is to rendezvous with the group en route to the Shelter. Lexy and Rolly are two of the dozen people pre-assigned to share a Shelter, a sealed room in the area just below ground level, while automated systems destroy and then rebuild from scratch their little world, a process called "the reconstruction," which is carried out everytime there is a cave-in or other catastrophic failure of some part of the underground Colony system.

{{{ this may or may not be the chapter break point }}}