Gibs wiped his forearm across his eyes and blinked again, shaking his head to combat a lack of sleep. Off to the side, a sign approached on his right. It was as blurry as if he had killed off a bottle of Jack that morning, which he hadn’t. Good sweet Christ but he’d butter up a chimpanzee’s nuts for a cup of coffee. He’d even drink that shitty Folger’s crystals garbage.
He focused hard enough that a headache bloomed in the center of his forehead, forcing the sign to resolve.
“Jackson, 65 miles”
“Jackson,” he thought. He liked the sound of that. It brought to mind a favorite Johnny Cash song of his. “Screw it,” he thought. “Jackson it is.”
He repositioned himself in his seat and sat up straight. He lifted up his right hand and waved forward, which conjured his friend Tom Davidson at his side, who he insisted on referring to only as Davidson.
“Think we’ll have a look at this Jackson town coming up, see what we find. Maybe we hunker in there.”
Davidson slapped him on the shoulder and nodded. “Right on. I’ll let the others know.” He turned and made his way back down the aisle, holding onto the seat backs as he went.
Gibs smiled to himself; never much of a singer, he began to tunelessly chant:
“We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout. We’ve been talkin’ ‘bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out. I’m go-in’ to Jackson, I’m gonna mess around. Yeah, I’m go-in’ to Jacks-DAH, sonofafuckbitchcocksucker!”
He hauled on the wheel again, narrowly missing a washout on the road by scant inches. He got the bus straightened out on the other side miraculously with only a minor squealing of tires, the backend fishtailing in sickening fashion. He coughed and took several deep breaths to calm himself. Jesus!
Having thus regained control, he couldn’t help but finish his initial thought: “Look out Jackson town.”
A NOTE ON THE NARRATIVE
This completes the first volume of the history of the Jackson Commune, comprising the early days of its founders, how they found each other, and how they came to settle there.
I have taken some small liberty in the narrative flow of this document for the purposes of grammar and readability. This was done mostly to help obscure the usual ticks and placeholders that people employ in common spoken language (Jake Martin tends to make frequent use of the words “right?” and “you know?” in his conversation, whereas Amanda uses variations of “like” or “I was like” often). In transcribing my notes into a final written form, I found early on that such usage would have to be cleaned up and elected to do so in favor of readability, accepting the minor hit to accuracy. I have secured the approval from my interview subjects before making any changes to their narrative; the initial intent and feeling behind their words has, I feel, been carried forward into the final product.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Thank you so much for reading Commune Book One by Joshua Gayou. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. We just wanted to take a moment to encourage you to review the book on Amazon and Goodreads. Every review helps further the author’s reach and, ultimately, helps them continue writing fantastic books for us all to enjoy.
If you liked Commune Book One, check out the rest of our catalogue at www.aethonbooks.com. To sign up to receive updates regarding all new releases, visit www.aethonbooks.com/sign-up
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOSHUA GAYOU lives in Southern California with his wife Jennifer and son Anthony.
When he isn’t writing, he divides his time between being a senior engineer at a prominent In Flight Entertainment (IFE) company, accomplishing tasks around the house as assigned by his wife (The Boss), building stuff out in his wood shop, playing board games with his kid, and whatever else his twisted little mind takes an interest in.
Visit joshuagayouauthor.com
Copyright
COMMUNE BOOK 1
©2017 JOSHUA GAYOU
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
Print and eBook formatting, and cover design by Steve Beaulieu.
Second Edition Published by Aethon Books LLC. 2019
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved.