A peek inside the Book:
Lina had been shopping. She was carrying a plastic sack of groceries in one hand and a large bag in another with the printing "Just for Baby" on the side. As she walked on the footpath, the sun was showing a pink upper lip as it sank over the mountains. It cast massive, dark shadows upon the lake and the town. She loved the purple twilight when the harsh contrasts of daylight became blends of pastel. People moved indoors. She looked around, counting dots of white and yellow lights of windows. She failed to notice the snow-packed trail made a hitch to the left. The faintly dark roofline of the condos was just ahead. The snow crunched beneath her boots.
She heard nothing when it happened, only a sudden coldness around her ankles.
"My God."
She knew immediately and screamed as a small blanket of ice began slowly collapsing beneath her, sucking her legs and lower body into the lake.
The bags flew in the air as she flung herself on her back, arching her stomach. At the same time, she flailed with her arms, attempting to keep her weight distributed over the cracked and broken surface. An icy path of cold water began shooting down her neck and spine. Her legs were already heavyweights. They began aching. Her heart raced wildly. Panic-filled eyes fastened upward at an evening star and then to the shore onto the little row of houses. The lights of neighbors' kitchens were only a few hundred yards away, but it was an eternity in time. Would they hear the screams? Again and again, she shouted, "Help!" In Italian, she yelled, "Aiuto!" Lina kept her arms flailing backward with her back and head against the ice. She must not go under!
Buying the book:
Moonlight in Vermont, a Novel, is also available at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and other web sites, or your local bookstore.
