The Maiden Maverick

Todd Daley

Description

The Maiden Maverick
As a result of Hal’s untimely death, Nancy Perez is living alone in a post Covid-24 world, where the country has lost three-fourths of its population. Basic government services like police, fire, sanitation, and post office are nonexistent—along with electric power and phone service. Coal stoves are used to cook food and heat homes. The Elm Park neighborhood has banded together to obtain food, shelter, and security. Reminiscent of the old west, everyone carries a gun – the ubiquitous 22-caliper handgun. On a nighttime walk to the Kill van Kull, Nancy meets Sam Worthington, a husky black man, with a troubled past. He becomes a guardian – stopping abuses of Darren Trupp’s Brown Shirts who barge into people’s homes – stealing valuables and assaulting women. The Truppers use drones equipped with cameras and lasers to surveille and attack individuals they deem to be rebels.
The Resistance is coordinated by Gerald Hopkins from his office in Wolstein’s factory. Hopkins and his aide, Mason, provide Nancy and Sam with guns, bullets, grenades and dynamite to fight the Truppers. There’s a plan by the Truppers to sabotage a coal-powered generating plant – shutting down power to the North Shore. Nancy, Sam, Freddy, Billy, and others engage the Brown Shirts in a gun battle outside the plant – routing them into the swamps of Travis. After the gun battle at the power plant, Sam moves in with Nancy. Soon, an old Army tank appears on Eggert’s Field, the grass-and-flower filled field across the street. A well-aimed grenade takes care of the tank, but a new challenge appears in the form of a refurbished World War Ii destroyer.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 28 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823011860
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE MAIDEN MAVERICK
TODD DALEY


AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Todd Daley. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 07/18/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1187-7 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1186-0 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913355
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1Hal’s Notebook
Chapter 2Mendeleev and Avogadro
Chapter 3Baseball Immortals
Chapter 4A Visit to the Wolstein Factory
Chapter 5The Saints and Basketball
Chapter 6Quinn and Bubba
Chapter 7A Stickball Game
Chapter 8Contest at Kaffman’s Bar
Chapter 9Looking at the Stars
Chapter 10Fantasy, Reality, and Poetry
Chapter 11An Unpleasant Visit
Chapter 12Shooting Down a Drone
Chapter 13A Childhood Dream
Chapter 14A Trip to Brooklyn
Chapter 15Where’s Billy Bumps?
Chapter 16A Visit to the Wolstein Factory
Chapter 17A Plan to Rescue Billy
Chapter 18A Plan to Save the Power Plant
Chapter 19Power Plant Showdown
Chapter 20An Overnight Invite
Chapter 21Grazing on Eggert’s Field
Chapter 22The Brothers Grey
Chapter 23A Thomas Hardy Novel
Chapter 24Nancy and Sam Seized
Chapter 25Gloom and Landum Juiced
Chapter 26Dr. Emil’s New Home
Chapter 27Blowing Up Big Things
Chapter 28The Moulin Rouge
Chapter 29A Change in Venue
Chapter 30A Daring Plot and a Good Doctor
Chapter 31A Drastic Plan
Chapter 32A Modest Plan
Chapter 33Dropping Leaflets
Chapter 34Trip to Miller Field
Chapter 35A Biweekly Newspaper
Chapter 36Gun Battle in Port Richmond
Chapter 37Disassembling a Laser
Chapter 38Return to the Moulin Rouge
Chapter 39Zapping from Above
Chapter 40Doing Something Nice
About the Author

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work.”
- MarkTwain
CHAPTER 1
HAL’S NOTEBOOK
The sun peaked through a dissipating fog above the yellow stucco house as Nancy stood on her front porch. It was a preternaturally warm day in early February 2028. Except for one big blizzard in January, it had been a mild winter. Global warming was an undeniable reality. The Elm Park neighborhood was eerily quiet except for a barking dog and an occasional car passing on Pulaski Avenue and turning down Walker Street. With gasoline going for eight dollars a gallon, the pothole-filled streets were traversed by pedestrians and bicycles alongside deer, raccoons, and foxes. Cars and trucks were rarely seen. It brought to mind the remark of Hal’s grandmother, made so many years ago: “A car is a luxury.” Problem was bus service, despite promises of its return, was nonexistent—except for in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Staten Island, the outermost of New York City’s five boroughs, hadn’t seen a TA bus in five years. As far as electricity was concerned, it was off much more than it was on.
The words “think positive” echoed in Nancy’s mind. Her deceased common-law husband, Hal Haley, would have urged this. Upbeat, hardworking, and bookish, Hal put a positive light on any obstacle life placed in his path. He was shot on Pulaski Avenue scarcely twenty feet from their front porch by those thugs. It was four years ago, but it seemed like yesterday. Hal’s untimely death was like a nagging toothache that would never go away. She had heard that death transforms you from a person to an idea. His last project—his unstructured school for the neighborhood kids—was probably his best idea. She had tried to keep it going with Hank and Freddy, but neither were teachers. As with Hal, his unstructured school was destroyed by the flash of a gun. Thankfully, his ideas from the reading of literature, history, and philosophy were preserved in the notebooks he had compiled over many years.
From time to time, she’d read Hal’s notebook on the ancient Greeks and Romans and tried to explain some of it to the neighborhood kids. Hal had mentioned the Roman Stoics, like Epictetus and Seneca, who stressed virtue and love. The early Christians had been influenced by the Stoics. She recalled Plato’s parable of the cave, in which prisoners can only see shadows on a wall. One of them escapes and observes the real objects casting the shadows. Plato said that idea, not objects, were ultimate reality—timeless, unchanging, and perfect. Alfred, the Black kid who collected coins, had asked about a quote from Socrates. After searching though Hal’s notebook on the ancient Greeks and Romans, Nancy was able to find it: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Near the end of this notebook were some non sequitur items. The difference between simile and metaphor was explained. Simile is a comparison of two different things using like or as. The sprinter ran like a deer. Metaphor is a comparison using a figure of speech. The tanker ship plowed the sea.
Then there was an explanation of the difference between physics and metaphysics. Physics is the science dealing with matter, gravity, energy, sound, light, radio waves, and the laws of motion. Whereas metaphysics examines the ultimate reality of the universe beyond the laws of physics.
In another notebook, Alfred found a section on Pascal’s law that interested him. The law stated that pressure applied to an enclosed liquid is transmitted internally in every direction of the liquid. The kid said it was the principle behind the hydraulic lift. Nancy looked at the notebook with Alfred—finding the material on Blaise Pascal interesting. He appeared to have wide-ranging interests in science and mathematics. In algebra, Pascal’s triangle derived the coefficients of the binomial expansion. She recalled Hal explaining that a binomial is the sum of two algebraic terms, whereas a trinomial is the sum of three algebraic terms. With regard to the existence of God, Pascal asserted that God does not mark his presence in the world with indelible footprints. So, he made an interesting argument for God’s existence—referred to as the “religious wager.”
Expected Value = (Reward Value) (Probability)
Even if the probability that God exists is low, the reward value of infinite happiness makes it worthwhile to bet that God exists. Thus, people ought to kind, humble, generous, and sincere. And a person risks nothing by living a virtuous life—virtue has its own rewards.
Alfred was called upstairs by his mom, but Nancy continued reading Hal’s notebook. There was extensive material on probability, which stated that probability ranges between 0 and 1:
0 ≤ prob ≤1.
An unusual event was also defined by an equation:
Prob (Unusual Event) ≤. .05.
For example, the probability of tossing a coin and getting four heads in a row is
Prob = ½ x ½ x ½ x ½ = 1/16 = 0.0625.
An unlikely event, but not considered an unusual event. Lightning strikes and meteor hits were unusual events.
The probability of being struck by lightning is
Prob = 1/1,000,000 = 0.000001.
The probability of being hit by a meteorite is
Prob = 1/250,000 = 0.000004.
Amazing , she thought, I’m more likely to be hit by a meteor than to be struck by lightning. Nancy’s readings were interrupted by Freddy von Voglio.
“Hey Nancy. I got some coffee and donuts—fresh from Harty’s.”
The slender young woman stepped off the porch onto the sidewalk and took the coffee and donuts. She thanked him and sipped on the coffee. “I don’t know about the donuts.”
“What? You worried about getting fat?” Freddy smiled his wry smile and rubbed his hands—habits that signaled his contentment with the world.
After hesitating she took a donut and nibbled on it slowly. “How old are you Freddy? If I may ask.”
“Sure you can ask. I was born in 1943. You do the arithmetic,” Freddy replied, rubbing his hands vigorously.
Pausing momentarily and then counting on her fingers, Nancy exclaimed, “Wow! You’re eighty-five. Do you believe in God?”
“Sure. The guy upstairs has been good to me. And I still throw that Spalding speedball. You can count on one hand the losses I had in fastpitch stickball. Harry the Horse beat me twice, the Messiah guy smacking the ball into the cemetery, and Tom Haley—Hal’s dad—beat me on a blooper I dropped.”
“Very impressive, Freddy.”
“Now when it comes to basketball. I never had that soft touch that Hal had. But I gave them a good run for their money,” Freddy said with his wry smile.
Suddenly, they heard a whirling sound above. It was a tiny drone a hundred feet up surveying the neighborhood. Nancy grabbed Freddy and pulled him up the front steps to the porch.
Scrutinizing the drone, Freddy shrugged his shoulders. “This one just has a camera. The drones with lasers are bigger, with a barrel,” Freddy remarked with his mirthless grin.
“They’re all scary to me,” Nancy said grimly.
At that moment, Hank Anker ambled down the street and stopped at the porch. “Drone alert. Big Brother snooping. Brown Shirts on Morningstar Road.”
Hank