All Fall Down (an Avondale Story)

Copyright © 2015, 2020 by Etienne

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Wherever possible, the syntax and spelling in this book follows guidelines set forth in The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition, and in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

Cover Art © 2015, 2020 by Gerald Lopez

Acknowledgments

My special thanks go to the following:

To my partner of twenty plus years, for his helpful comments and suggestions.

To Beta readers: Brandi, Joyce, Johanna, Murphy, Rich, and anyone else whose name might have escaped me (blame it on a senior moment, if you will), for their comments, and often extremely helpful suggestions.

And to my faithful editor Jim Kennedy, who has guided me through the comma shoals, and brought my books safely home for many, many years.

Author’s Notes

Many people have written to inquire if the places described in the Avondale stories are real, and I'm happy to say that most of them are. Avondale is a very real neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida, situated between Roosevelt Boulevard (US-17) and the St. Johns River. It is bounded on the northeast by McDuff Avenue which separates it from the neighborhood known as Riverside, and on the southwest by Fishweir Creek.

After the great fire of 1901 leveled much of downtown Jacksonville, destroying over two thousand buildings and leaving nearly ten thousand people homeless, the Springfield neighborhood immediately north of downtown was developed. Then the city began to move west and south along the St. Johns River, and first Riverside then Avondale were born. Said to be the first planned community in Florida, Avondale was developed in the nineteen twenties.

The restaurants frequented by our guys are very real, and pretty much as described in the stories:

The Derby House, sometimes referred to as Gorgi’s Derby House was a popular restaurant for several decades, until it closed circa 2011, give or take a year or so. It was the kind of neighborhood hangout where people seated themselves. After its closure, the building was remodeled, enlarged a bit, and a new restaurant emerged, known as The Derby on Park.

Biscottis, which opened in the fall of 1993, is a very popular restaurant located in the Avondale shopping area.

The Pizza Italian in Five Points, was opened by a Greek immigrant in the spring of 1976, and he dished out good pizza, wonderful lasagna, and the best meatball subs in town for just over forty-one years. Sadly, the restaurant closed in 2017, due to the owner’s age and health problems.

Richard's Sandwich Shop in Five Points, for more than three decades offered the best Camel Riders* in town. After more than thirty years in business, the owner sold the property and retired in 2016.

The Goal Post Sandwich Shop is located across the street from the complex that houses The Loop, and has been a fixture in the neighborhood for a very long time.

The Cool Moose Café has been serving breakfast and lunch to neighborhood residents for some twenty years.

The Loop Pizza Grill, home of the best grilled chicken sandwich in town and locally referred to simply as The Loop, began in Jacksonville in the late eighties, and has grown to several locations around town. The Avondale location, situated on Fishweir Creek, was popular for its deck, where one could sit and watch sea birds foraging in the tidal estuary while eating. Unfortunately, the entire complex was razed by developers in 2017, and replaced by apartments. The Loop moved to another location nearby, but that location, sadly, lacks a deck on the water.

*THE TERM Camel Rider might sound like a pejorative to some in today's politically correct society, but in Jacksonville—which has one of the largest Middle Eastern communities on the East Coast—it's the name of a sandwich offered at the numerous sandwich shops around town operated by people whose ancestors fled the economic decline and religious persecution of the Ottoman Empire. Predominately Christian, they came from Syria, Lebanon, and other parts of the Middle East and settled in Jacksonville during the early twentieth century and shortly before.

All of the sandwich shops offer sandwiches in a pocket of pita bread, and these sandwiches are called riders. The Camel Rider is a pita pocket stuffed with lettuce, slices of tomato, cheese, and cold cuts, with a bit of mustard and a dash of olive oil. The camel rider is a very simple, but amazingly satisfying sandwich.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Epilogue

About the author

Contact the author

Other books by Etienne

All Fall Down

(an Avondale Story

featuring George and Mike)

Revised edition

Etienne

Chapter 1

Jacksonville, FL

September

THE NEW SCHOOL year had begun, and the Foster-Martin household was settling down into their new routine. The addition of George’s now seventeen-year-old nephew to the family mix hadn’t really changed their daily lives all that much. On weekdays, he and Mike went to the Y in two cars as usual; only now, they dropped Robbie off with the Y’s KidZone staff, and Frankie worked out with them.

Today, for the first time, Frankie’s father, and George’s former brother-in-law, Francis Trammell Sr. was planning to join them. Frank, as he was known, had a gym membership that came with being a partner in one of the largest law firms in the city, but he planned to accompany them to the Y as a means to spend more time with his son. Frank had remarried after he’d divorced George’s sister, and his new wife didn’t particularly like having a stepson around. So, when George’s sister had gone over the deep end in her alcoholism; she’d been committed to a psychiatric facility… and George and Mike were now custodians of George’s nephew.

Frank and Frankie had established a father and son night every week, and Frank wanted to add the daily workouts as bonding time with his son.

I’m a little nervous about going to the Y today, Uncle George, Frankie said.

We do it every day, Frankie, what’s the problem?

My dad will see me naked.

You haven’t got anything he hasn’t seen, or for that matter doesn’t have… so what’s worrying you?

Won’t he think it funny that I’m… you know… shaved?

Wasn’t he on the swim team when he was in school? George said.

I think so… yeah, I’ve seen the pictures in his high school yearbook.

There you go. Swimmers have been trimming and/or shaving their pubes for a very long time. And if he asks point blank about Mike and me being shaved, we’ll have a nice discussion about the joys of mutual genital shaving.

Not in front of me, I hope.

Don’t worry about it, Frankie. You’re almost an adult, and you need to be able to deal with adult conversations.

You make it sound so easy.

It’s anything but easy for guys your age, Frankie. Tell you what—just sit down on the bench in the steam room like you always do. I’ll bet you a Big Mac he doesn’t say anything.

Do you really think so? Frankie said.

Frankie, you ought to know by now that I always say what I mean, and mean what I say.

Okay. It’s a bet.

George turned off of Riverside Avenue into the driveway leading to the parking lot behind the YMCA building, and parked near the rear entrance—which was actually the main entrance for the men and women who used the facilities regularly.

Isn’t that your dad’s car over there to our right? George said.

It’s either his, or one just like it.

Good. You should be proud of your dad, Frankie. He’s going to a lot of trouble to make sure he gets to spend time with you—no matter what that wife of his says. And the fact that she recently had a baby doesn’t make things any easier for him.

Yeah, and I appreciate it. I didn’t see him very often when I was still living with my mom.

Those days are behind you, kiddo, George said. Put on some imaginary blinders and look forward.

That’s easy for you to say, Uncle George.

I know, Frankie—it’s our day to swim laps, so let’s enjoy it, okay?

Yes, Sir.

Frank Sr. was waiting for them inside the Y, and they stood talking for a minute until Mike caught up with them.

Robbie all settled in? George said.

Yeah. He enjoys playing with the other kids, Mike said.

Let’s go, then, George said.

As they were changing, Mike said, George and I do different things on alternate days; Monday is our day to swim laps.

How many laps do you swim? Frank said.

We swim for an hour these days, which works out to about a mile and a half at a comfortable speed, Mike said.

The first time Frankie swam with us, he said we swam fast for a couple of older guys, George said.

He didn’t… did he? Frank said.

Actually, he didn’t quite get all the words out before he realized what he was saying, and imposed a little self-censorship, George said.

Hey, if you can’t be honest among friends and family—, Mike said.

Exactly, George said.

They were in luck when they arrived at the pool. There were two open lanes, so George and Mike took one of them, and Frank and Frankie the other. When they climbed out of the pool an hour later, Frank was breathing heavily.

It’s been a while since I’ve done that many laps, he said. The gym I use doesn’t have a pool, or a steam room for that matter.

It wouldn’t be quite so hard if you weren’t wearing those baggy swim trunks, Frank, Mike said. Wearing trunks like that while swimming laps is like pulling a parachute behind you.

Yeah, Dad, Frankie said. You need a pair of Speedos.

When they were sitting in the steam room, George watched Frank’s face for a reaction when Frankie spread his towel on the tiled bench and sat down. The only reaction George spotted was a very brief raising of the eyebrows. Then he noticed that Frank’s pubes were trimmed, and his testicles were shaved. That explains it, he thought.

Sorry we gave you a run for your money in the pool, Frank, George said. But if you do this with us three times a week, you’ll have it mastered in no time.

I understand, Frank said.

Do you do any running? Mike said.

I used to, but not any more, why?

Because we’ll be using the exercise equipment tomorrow morning, but Wednesday, we’ll be running the bridges, Mike said.

What does that mean? Frank said.

It means we leave the Y, and run up and across the Acosta Bridge, then over to the Main Street Bridge and across it, George said. Then we retrace our steps. It’s not a huge distance to run, but the up ramp to the Acosta Bridge is pretty steep when you’re coming back this way.

Frank looked at his son. Do you do that with them, Frankie?

You bet I do, Frankie said. Remember, Johnny and I sort of ran up the mountain and back when we were all at Uncle George’s cabin.

I can’t promise anything, Frank said, but I’ll give it a shot Wednesday.

Uncle George and Uncle Mike do the River Run, Dad, Frankie said, so they’re kind of used to running.

I’ve done the River Run a couple of times, Frank said, but it was before you were born.

The group moved from the steam room to the showers, and then to the locker-room to dress for the day. George, Frank, and Frankie talked for a minute while Mike went to retrieve Robbie, then Frank drove Frankie to school. A few moments later, Robbie came running up to George, and gave him a hug.

Did you have a good time, kiddo? George said.

Yes, Sir. My friend Bobby is always here on Mondays.

George got into his city issued car and headed downtown, while Mike drove in the other direction to take Robbie to school, then go to his office.

Chapter 2

Jacksonville, FL

Monday evening

GEORGE ARRIVED AT their house a little before six that evening, and found Robbie, as usual, busily practicing on his piano. Frankie was doing his homework, and Mike was in the kitchen fixing their dinner.

Hi, babe, George said, when he walked into the kitchen. Everything under control?

Mike turned from the cooktop to look at George. Everything is copasetic, but you’re still dressed for work.

That’s because I had an urge to get a hug and a kiss first.

Good answer, Mike said, as he hugged George with one hand, and groped him with the other while he kissed him.

That was nice, George said.

Only nice? Is that the best you can do?

Well, I could rip your clothes off and have my way with you right here on the kitchen floor—

Not with two kids in the house, I think, Mike said.

Alrighty, then. You’ll get your reward later this evening.

One can only hope. Now get your butt upstairs and change; so you can come back down here and set the table.

I’m on my way.

With that, George hurried through the kitchen door and collided with Frankie in the process.

Oops, sorry, kiddo, I should have watched where I was going, George said. Are you alright?

Yeah, Frankie said. I finished my homework, and was gonna ask about supper.

I guess you heard me talking to Mike in the kitchen—

Yeah, Frankie said. He had what could only be described as a shit eating grin on his face.

What’s so funny?

"Listening to you guys made me think of something Johnny said. He asked me if I thought you guys still