Author: Ken Beck

On the morning of January 2, 2012, Lana Marietta Andersen Andrews waltzed in to the law office of Weinstein and Fetterman where she had been working for the past several years as a paralegal. She was all decked out in her favorite office attire, looking quite lawyerly, thank you very much, in her librarian glasses. He one touch of flair was the boots. She had a thing for leather boots. Apart from this outfit, which was a norm as far as her lawyers were concerned, she was also wearing quite the purple splotch of fingerprint on her left cheek. Since David Weinstein had the office to the left side of the reception area, he was the first to see her face. As she sang out her usual greeting, he was up and out of his office to remark, “Holy shit, Lana! What happened to you?” This brought Counselor Fetterman out of his office as well. The two lawyers, David an older man and Stephen somewhat younger, loved her to pieces and vied for her attention somewhat. “My son of a bitch husband hit me.” “Yikes,” said Stephen. “I’m assuming this is what you called about on the 31st,” said David.…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 1, 2012

With Scott out of her life, Lana went right back to work on hitting the books and studying for the Bar. She reasoned that it would be a good idea to turn her attention to making her own money. In focusing on this, she let go of demons and blogging. Amy languished, unfed. Amy was not forgotten, far from it. She was being edited and proofed at Harper’s Monthly. Other editors at Harper-Collins were looking over captured blog pages that had floated up through the ranks. In meetings, the idea of turning that blog into a book was being discussed. It was pretty much agreed to; the question was how to approach Lana with an offer. She was technically unknown, but she came with a ready-made and sizeable following eager to buy. She was a good-looking woman and would be great, or at least look great on TV. The question was should she be approached as an unknown? Offer her the lure of publication only? Or should she be approached with an offer? If an offer of advance was to be made, how much should it be? How many copies of an “Amy Tells All” book did they think they…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 2, 2012

In the months that followed these incidents, things happened that were all too predictable given the trajectories all the players were on. For a fortnight, Scott bivouacked at the “shed.” He did not, as Lana had sarcastically predicted, sleep under his Cub. He set up a cot in the office and, having gotten his car back with its sizeable stash of necessities, he made a life. Having had a taste of prison, these digs were doable. For that first week, he did not repeat his drinking incident. He turned his attention to selling and trying to gain the ground lost by lost time and additional expense. Bruce negotiated with Scott about the sales trips. Scott was persuaded by the argument that at this point they both needed to be selling. They would divide up the paperwork and maintenance chores. Parts acquisitions also would be shared. It was agreed that they would now make a fifty-fifty effort to dig themselves out of the slight pit they were in. It was only a dip, really. They should regain altitude in short order. This noble plan was derailed by the arrival of another process-server. Scott saw the man drive up and get out…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 3, 2012

One Year Later. The choreography at the Feminita-Grays had not changed a bit. They were drinking less and thinking more this winter. Julian had been fasting and running. Feminita had started them on juicing. So they could still move from kitchen to couches with much more swagger, and far less stagger. Julian had finished revising his third unsold novel, and had started another one. He typed relentlessly, making a fiction out of the incident with Lana Andrews. In his fiction, he was able to have his male protagonist rescue her from the battering husband, divorce his nagging wife, and go all the way. It was, he felt, his most commercial book so far. Dana, on the other hand, had taken a beating in the 2012 elections and was licking her wounds on Facebook. So, to keep and eye on the political situation, and keep her chuckling in a grim sort of way, she had the TV tuned to Jon Stewart. For the most part, Julian tuned this programming out these days. He could write just as well with the babble going on in the background as without it. Stewart’s voice was saying, just past the announcer’s lead in, “Hi, I’m…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 3, 2012

Reactions to the ‘grand aviation accident,’ as Lana termed it were diverse. Lana was packing for another book tour, when her phone chirped. “Hey, Christine. What’s up, sweetie?” “Turn on the evening news.” “OK, I’m doing it.” There was Scott, captured in a still shot, standing amidst a cluster of people next to his Skylark, which was clearly parked on the freeway. “Oh. My. God. Christine!” “He fucked up.” “He really fucked up.” The announcer was saying… “The aircraft had apparently run out of fuel just moments after takeoff. Authorities are blaming the incident, which shut down traffic in both directions for a half an hour, and in the North bound lanes for about three hours this morning just as rush hour was winding down, on pilot error. The pilot, Scott C. Andrews, said he simply forgot to check his fuel level in his eagerness to sell the plane to a prospective buyer.” “That man just isn’t having a good year,” said Christine. “No. He’s not.” “What do you think this means?” “Oh, I don’t know. He’s alive; nobody was hurt. The landing looks like it was perfect, no damage to the plane. It really comes down to whether the…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 4, 2012

Julian was typing, and Dana was watching the evening news. She perked up upon seeing this item in the crawl: “Bestselling author of ‘Amy Tells All’ hospitalized after possible burglary.” “Hey, Julian. Your blogger’s in the news again.” He looked up. He looked at the screen, but by the time he did, the crawl had moved on. “What did you see?” “It said she’s in the hospital. Something about a burglary.” “Shit. Mind if I flip looking for details?” “No, but it might be faster to Google it.” He did as she suggested and Googled it. “She’s at Camden-Clark Memorial,” he said, reading what was known of the nitty gritty. “She’s in critical condition.” “What else does it say?” “That she was found by her housekeeper and that there were signs of a struggle. It’s not clear what the nature of the injuries are.” At that moment, the TV news took up the story. More details came to light as it was learned that her ex-husband was now in custody. It now appeared to be an extreme domestic altercation. Her father, Damien Andersen, a dapper looking man, was doing his best to hold it together as he talked to a…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 4, 2012

Why dwell on this tale of two bloggers? Can it be considered a cautionary tale? If so, what is the essence of its warning? There is something Shakespearian about two star cursed bloggers meeting, even though Shakespeare never owned an iPad and borrowed his plots from Plutarch. Julian discovered Lana by chance. A moment of enthusiasm overtaking the need for caution connected Amy to Lana. Julian’s persistence of habit led him to discover the identity of the author. The promise of passion prompted them to meet. They almost got away with it, but anger and indiscretion led to violence and stubbornness. Talent was discovered, skill fueled the fire of fame. Fame and indiscretion led to more resentment. The demon of withheld compassion turned passion into ashes. In the ashes grew the evil of anger. Anger begat more anger, and physics took care of the rest. Then, there is the fact of human frailty. Had any of the players been other than as they were, some facet may not have glinted in the light and caused the effect. Had Scott been less controlling and more in tune with creativity, Lana may not have taken to telling all in a blog. She…

• by Ken Beck
• Posted on March 4, 2012