Part 1 of a 3 part story by R.M. Dolin
What Is To Be Done – TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Prelude To A Touch – Jake awakens to the stark reality of his world without Emelia as he readies for bicycle ride
Chapter 2: The Madness of Memories – Jake and Armando share a drink at the Al Azar before the rest of the crew arrive for their American’s for a New America (ANA) meeting that masquerades as poker.
Chapter 3: Al Azar – The rest of Jake’s cohort of retired Los Alamos scientists calling themselves the ‘Americans for a New America’ (ANA), arrive at Armando’s bar on Cinco de Mayo in defiance of the Governor’s quarantine mandates.
Chapter 4: The Desperation of Her Darkness – In the midst of the ANA planning session, Sympatico bursts into the Al Azar seeking sanctuary.
Chapter 5: Derivation of Destiny – One of Miguel’s henchman quickly arrives to retrieve Sympatico, he doesn’t consider the ANA members to be a threat until Dario brutally takes him down.
Chapter 6: Death is An Illusion – In terrified shock, Sympatico tries to assess if these old men playing poker are good or evil. Given her life’s ruled by evil men, she sees all men as evil.
Chapter 7: The Monte Hall Paradox – Miguel arrives with an entourage of henchmen to take Sympatico back with force. Jake baits him into a one-hand card game wager for Sympatico’s freedom and wins.
Chapter 8: La Marseillaise – Jake awakens to the aftermath of last night and tries to explain what happened to Emelia.
Chapter 9: Decoding Demons – On his morning bicycle ride, Jake manically works through what to do about the damaged woman sleeping in his guest bed.
Chapter 10: Infinite Sympatico – When Jake can come up with any solution to his Sympatico problem, he takes her to church planning to dump her on Padre, only Father Paul flips the script.
Chapter 11: La Marseillaise Redux – Jake is hopelessly lost to the dark pain of another predawn with night without his beloved Emelia.
Chapter 12:In The Land of Manana – Jake decides Sympatico can stay but he has to go to Española for pump parts. When he returns, Sympatico’s not there.
Chapter 13: What Happens Next – Miguel shows up for the money Jake owes him and discovers Sympatico’s missing. Now Jake and the rest of his crew must find her before Miguel and his henchmen do.
Chapter 14: Damaged Goods – While having too much to drink, Dario tells Jake the painful story of the friend he lost in combat, which causes him to have another PTSD episode.
Chapter 15: Enemy At the Gate – The ANA gather at the Al Azar to debate whether to delay the launch of their virtual coup. They also work through what should be done about Sympatico.
Chapter 16: Casualties of Context – Alone in his courtyard with only memories of Emelia and his black bottle bourbon, Jake has too much to drink. When Sympatico joins him he starts to ridiculously role play, confusing Sympatico for Emelia, the consequences of his error are explosive.
Chapter 17: Alternate Ending – Jake awakens to another layer in his tragic Emelia’s story.
Chapter 18: Making Mula – Jake opts to make Mula even though he should make Rye. Mula is a New Mexico prohibition era liquor highly prized amongst locals even though it’s also highly illegal.
Chapter 19: Bourbon Etiquette – Chance arrives in Jake’s tasting room unaware it’s interview day. His interview is full of twists and turns that eventually gets Chance a gig as Jake apprentice distiller.
Chapter 20: Aroma of Memories – As a full moon rises over the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the aromas in Jake’s barrel aging room loft him back in time to a precious moment with Emelia.
Chapter 21: Blue Bottle Bourbon – Sympatico interrupts Jake’s full moon ritual and after some persuasion agrees to join Jake in his spirit cleansing ceremony.
Chapter 22: Quiet Desperation– The ANA learn about Alverez, a Watcher sent from Washington to track down a suspected New Mexico subversive cell.
Chapter 23: Imaginary Numbers – Jake leaves Sympatico and Chance alone to spend the evening at the Al Azar. Chance, the consummate player, has no idea about Sympatico’s horrific past and when he attempts to charm her, the results are beyond explosive.
Chapter 24: Angelica – Sympatico wakes Jake up with a note from Padre to bring Angelica to church. She assumes Angelica is Jake’s girlfriend and worries she’ll force Jake to kick her out. On their way to church, Jake tells her the story behind the alter wine, Angelica, he makes for Padre.
Chapter 25: Passions of a Padre – Padre uses Sympatico as a prop to deliver a moving sermon on perseverance.
Chapter 26:Rendering Verdicts – While helping Jake in the distillery, Dario cannot hide is frustration and anger about Jake replacing him with Chance. Dario sees himself as Sympatico’s hero and Chance as his rival.
Chapter 27: Desperadoes – Miguel shows up at the Al Azar demanding Sympatico be returned. He offers Jake a huge amount of money but Jake refuses. Miguel informs Jake that he works for desperate men and things are not going to end well for anyone.
Chapter 28: Dawn of Discontent – The ANA react to Miguel’s threats by making plans to protect Sympatico while disrupting his operation.
Chapter 29: Tengo Caricia – The ANA, now at war with Miguel, brace for violence. They recruit the Sandia ANA chapter to help. As usual with Sandia engineers, they arrive with lots of fancy technology.
Chapter 30: Calculus of Causation – Jake’s awaken late at night with news that a woman’s been murdered at Miguel’s ranch and Sympatico is missing.
In book two of the trilogy, “Trophic Cascade – The Rise and Fall of Quiet Acquiescence,” the story picks up with a murdered woman at Miguel’s ranch and Sympatico missing.
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