Centenary Book Two: Gene, the Full Story
Updated now with all 100 stories to complete the full Book Two. The first 10 are a free preview, and the full story is available to paid subscribers.
Welcome to “Centenary Book Two: Gene.” This post is the full story from the start through the final story, and is available to paid subscribers.
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⏪ Read the first novella: Centenary Book One: Go On Down
1: ANNE and DEE
- We should invite him to join us for drinks before dinner.
- It seems dangerous to me, Anne. He already drives that scooter like he’s drunk.
- Maybe so.
- Maybe that explains why he barrels down the halls like that. We should ask Ruth what she thinks.
- I don’t think Ruth is coming today.
- Oh no. Did something happen to Ruth, too?
- No, Dee, Ruth is fine. Just not up for drinks.
- Should we go see her? She’d have an idea what to do about him. I don’t even know his name. Do you?
- No, no. I don’t know who he is.
2: ANNE and DEE and RUTH
- Ruth, what do you do when you see him coming in that electric wheelchair?
- Hello, girls. Thanks for calling on me.
- The way he just barrels down the hall, he doesn’t even say excuse me.
- He just races past.
- Have you ever been in the elevator when he barges on? Linda, Lucy, and LeRoy, get the hell out of Dodge.
- What?
- He spins that damn scooter around like no one’s business. Lord help you if you’re trapped in there, he’ll roll right over your feet.
- We should invite him in for drinks, see what he has to say for himself.
3: DEE and RUTH and ANNE
- Ruth, that’s what Anne said, but I’m not sure. He seems dangerous.
- Sounds like a good reason to invite him over.
- I don’t need convincing, girls. I say we walk down the hall and knock on his door.
- Oh Anne, that’s a bit dramatic.
- How else would you invite him?
- We could slip a note under his door.
- Write a letter and mail it to him.
- Girls, have you seen your handwriting? So shaky, we look like crazy women. We have to knock on his door.
- What if he’s not home?
- What if he IS home? What shall we say?
4: DEE and RUTH and ANNE
- I can’t believe we’re doing this. Who’s talking? Ruth? Anne? Not me.
- Why don’t we all do it? Anne, you start. I’ll jump in. Then Dee, you can say anything that we forget.
- I think we should have a drink, first. Anne, what do you have?
- White wine, girls. From Bordeaux. Sauvignon blanc and Semillon.
- What?
- White. Wine.
- Good enough for me.
- Me, too.
- But, what do we say? Why are we inviting him over, other than for drinks? What if we look stupid?
- Too late for that, girls. Bottom’s up.
- Ok, then. One-two-three, up from your chairs. Let’s go.
5: DEE and RUTH and ANNE
- I’m not sure what to make of that.
- He was clearly inside. You could hear him banging around in there.
- I didn’t hear anything.
- Oh come on, Dee. It sounded like he was ramming that damn power chair into every wall in his place.
- He obviously didn’t want to talk to us, girls.
- Just as well. You know he’d have come empty handed.
- He wouldn’t come at all. Have you ever seen him in the dining room? Never! He powers right off the elevator, out the doors, and down the street.
- Have you ever seen him out in the wild?
6: STEVE REICH, ANNE, RUTH, DEE, and WOMAN4
- Sssh, he’s coming over.
- Hello, ladies. You, you, you mind if I join you?
- This is usually a girls’ table.
- Is there still such a thing?
- I don’t suppose we could stop you. But I’m sure we don’t know why you’d want to sit with us.
- I hear things.
- What things?
- I hear things about you, ladies.
- What things?
- I hear that you, one of you, all of you, think I had a hand in Eli Fenner’s descent. Eli’s demise.
- Not me.
- Hush, Four.
- His daughter did, until her own demise, as you say.
- You, you, you must be Anne.
7: STEVE REICH, ANNE, RUTH, DEE, and WOMAN4
- We had music in common, Eli and I.
- He liked your music? You liked his?
- Don’t be coy, Anne. Everyone knows Eli was a school music director.
- Dee, will you shush? I’m asking Mr. Reich.
- No. He, he, he didn’t care for mine. But he listened. Understood. Appreciated.
- And his music?
- Four!
- Classical guitar. I don’t go much for that, anymore. He was good, a good composer, good guitarist.
- I didn’t know that about him.
- I have his guitar.
- Ruth, what?
- She keeps something from everyone who passes.
- But that’s two things, isn’t it Ruth? The photo, now the guitar.
8: STEVE REICH, ANNE, RUTH, WOMAN4, and DEE
- He was learning “Merry Christmas, Mister Lawrence.” Ryuichi Sakamoto. That’s how we met.
- I don’t understand.
- He was working out the melody, on that piano in the foyer.
- Christmas music? Eli Fenner? I don’t think so.
- Ruth, it’s from the movie. About war.
- Pr, pr, prisoners of war.
- Torture.
- Resilience in the face of despair.
- How do you know that, Four? I don’t believe I’ve heard of it.
- Girls! So, you taught Eli the music. On piano? You knew it?
- I hear it play in my head frequently.
- Dee!
- Yes, and then we, we, we worked it out on guitar.
9: STEVE REICH, ANNE, DEE, RUTH, and WOMAN4
- You, you, you need to know, it hurt me, your loose talk about me causing his demise.
- I told them that I know it wasn’t your music.
- What are you all even talking about?
- We’ll tell you later, Dee.
- Did you all think that Mr. Reich’s music made Eli commit suicide?
- No! I know it wasn’t the music. I know it wasn’t suicide.
- I, I, I know, too, Anne. It’s good to hear you say that.
- How do YOU know?
- Because we were helping that man at the far end of his floor. You, you, you must have seen him.
10: RUTH, STEVE REICH, DEE, WOMAN4, and ANNE
- Helping, how?
- We wrote episodic poetry. I start a stanza, pass it to you, you, you write the next one. Back and forth til it’s finished.
- Then what?
- We start a new one.
- That’s it?
- We added a third writer. The best of us, it turned out.
- Jimmy Dunne?
- Oh god no, can you imagine?
- Who?
- Gene. The man we were helping, at the end of the hall.
- I don’t know him. Do you, Anne?
- I don’t believe I do.
- You’d recognize him. Hard to miss. There he goes now, zooming out the door in that motor scooter of his.
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