NOTE: My upcoming novella (it's a quick 120 pages) Valparaiso will be out either late this year (2026) or at the very beginning of 2027. You can catch up by reading the 1st sneak peek here, although that section has also been slightly re-wrtitten - the minor changes are just that, minor. Here is the frist full mock-up of the cover:
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Tommy unlocked the front door of The
Everton Club, the restaurant-bar he owned in the center of Valparaiso.
The club was named for the
professional soccer team in the neighboring city, Vina Del Mar.
The team itself was named in honor of the
English team Everton a century or so earlier, after England’s Everton had
visited Chile on a preseason tour.
Tommy entered the restaurant and
locked the door from inside. Antonio poked his head out of the office.
“The delivery is delayed,” Antonio said.
“Apparently the delivery driver ran into a building.”
Tommy laughed. “Which building?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hopefully he ran into Cinzano.”
“Hopefully they still get the delivery
here,” Antonio mused. “We’re out of everything.”
“Everything?”
“Almost everything.”
“Almost…” Tommy trailed off.
Tommy walked through the empty seating
area, toward the kitchen.
He opened the walk-in refrigerator and
looked inside. The shelves, while not quite empty, were suspiciously lacking in
food. Tommy nodded with a resigned acceptance.
As he closed the walk-in door two boys,
Roberto and Alexis, came running in through the back door.
“Tommy!”
“Tommy!”
The two boys ran into the kitchen with
that energy that only 10-year-old boys seem to have.
“Tommy! Tommy!” Alexis shouted.
“Guess what we saw,” Roberto yelled.
Tommy didn’t have to respond. The boys
encouraged each other to keep shouting. Tommy smiled at them.
“We were just up the street,” Alexis
said.
“This guy had this huge mask.”
“No, I get to tell it!” Alexis whined.
“He was walking with this big mask.”
“Hey!”
Alexis interrupted. “I’m telling it.”
Tommy
subtly took control of the moment.
“It’s
okay,” Tommy said. “You can both tell it, over some food.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
The
three of them had danced this dance before.
“I’ll
be back in a minute,” Tommy assured them. “You go sit down.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
The boys went into the seating area, passing Antonio on the way,
“Hi Antonio,” Roberto shouted.
“Hi Antonio,” Alexis echoed.
“Roberto! Alexis!” Antonio shouted back with a smile. “What’s going on, my brothers?”
Tommy came through the hallway last and said, “Whatever they want, Antonio.
“Excellent!” Antonio began. “Let’s start with a shot of Rum, and then –“
“Food, Antonio. Food!” Tommy implored.
Everyone laughed, including Roberto and Alexis.
Tommy sat at the table with the boys.
“So, this guy with the mask,” Roberto began.
“Roberto was so scared he screamed,” Alexis blurted out
“I did not!”
Tommy sat back and let the two boys compete with each other.
He looked out the window as a car stopped and a man got out.
Tommy’s attention was split between the two boys and the man who had gotten out of the car.
He peered through the window.
The man on the street looked left, then right, then dodged traffic to cross the street away from Tommy’s view.
Tommy relaxed. He turned back to the two boys.
Peter Wick
June 13, 2026
