Perfection
A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal
Chapter One
January 8-12, 2003
It happened like this: Henry's footsteps on the old wooden
floorboards. The toilet flushing. More footsteps, perhaps on the
stairs. Silence. Then the thud.
I was working downstairs in my office on a bitterly cold Wednesday
afternoon. My work space was an enclosed sunporch off our
living room, the small- paned windows on three sides framing a
view of the snowy hills across the road. Wrapped in a shawl, wearing
fuzzy socks on my chilled feet, I continued studying the project
on my computer screen. At forty-three, I had been a graphic designer
for nearly twenty years, a freelancer, specializing in cover
designs for book publishers. Today's project was a novel about
hard- luck cowboys, due yesterday, as always. I stopped fiddling
with type design possibilities as I glanced at the computer clock-in
an hour I would have to make a dash out to the car to pick up
our six- and- a-half- year- old daughter, Liza, just before school let
out at 3:10. Henry had been sick in bed all morning. There would ... read full excerpt from: Perfection ebook
