(note from the author:
Dear Readers;
I hope you enjoy this story. Family Garden is my oldest and longest series. It began back in 2013 and then sat for several years as a single solitary chapter. Since then there have been many revisions; the original chapter 1 is chapters 1-4, there are 51 chapters now to date, and the finale is approaching if not quickly. One of the things introduced in that very first chapter of the Family Garden was the nightclub, 'The Volton'. A massive club catering to every sexual deviancy imaginable with tentacles of influences spreading through the underworld and the government alike.
For a while now I've wanted to write a series that explores its operation, the employees lives, and the lives of it's many members, the influential and the not so influential. There are questions I would like to explore like: How does this club somehow stay out of sight of the political and law enforcement entities that would close it doors and prosecute the owner and many of the employees and patrons? What brings the patrons to the Volton? Is it purely sexual deviancy, or is there something more? What has led the employees to work at such a place? How has patronage of such an establishment affected the clientele's lives, and what about their partners that may or may not know of such deviant behavior? What is working at the Volton like, and how has it affect the employees lives, and that of their partners? And what about the sex workers, what motivates them and how has it affected them?
There are many questions, and many stories.
My inspiration for this new novella is the 'Twilight Zone'. The goal is for every chapter to be a 'One Shot' story snapshotting someone's life. Not to say there won't be other chapters about the same people in a different phase of their lives. Some of the stories I imagine will be pretty easy to predict, but I am hoping that others will have surprise twists that make you say "Woah! I didn't see that coming!"
Well, that is the goal at least. Anyway I hope you enjoy the read, and welcome to 'The Family Garden's: Tales from the Volton'. -Pinkender)
The Family Garden's: Tales from the Volton
By: Pinkender
Chapter 1- The Barista
Rumors travel around the workplace faster than fire through drought parched grass. The Volton is no different, as a matter of fact it is infinitely worse. The reason is that the Volton is not like, well, any other workplace I have ever known. A restaurant. A nightclub. A strip club. A coffee bar. A brothel, and much more. It's an adult playground like no one has ever seen before. A workplace such as this would of course breed all sorts of lies, rumors, and stories. My job is to gather all of those lies, rumors, and stories and try to weed out the lies, investigate the rumors, and organize the stories so that I can then unfold them for you.
This first tale is about a young man I have gotten to know very well after he came to work at the Volton. His name is Frederick Bruce, and this is his story.
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I was not quite nineteen when my mom and I moved into this single bedroom efficiency apartment. The only furniture we had was my stuff. Basically, what was in my bedroom. My full sized bed. Dresser. Chest of Drawers. A desk. Television. Computer. Clothes. On the other hand, the only thing dad let mom take with her was her clothes, and the family car. He kept the house, the furniture, his truck and sports car, everything, and then he moved his new girlfriend in.
Like I said, I'm eighteen, almost nineteen. Mom is thirty-six. I always thought she was beautiful, but then, I am a bit biased. Since dad worked a lot it was left to me and mom to do family events together, alone. Going to movies. Going out to family dinners. Going grocery shopping. We were always mother and son, but sometimes, I felt like I was dad's surrogate, or maybe mom's. Either way, it was highly flattering and embarrassing when strangers mistook me and my mother as boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, or just lovers. But, there again, I was really all mom had for male companionship, dad was always gone or working.
Aside from my few pieces of furniture, the small economy apartment was furnished with a small table in a corner with two chairs. There wasn't even a couch, loveseat, or chair. The apartment was so small that it must have been thought that if a tenant was going to sit anywhere, the bed would do. There was a very small kitchen. And a bathroom with sink, toilet, and very tight shower.
It was late by the time we finished bringing up the last garbage bags filled with mom's and my clothes. We exchanged exhausted looks as I closed the door and we stood there for a long minute or two and stared at our new life. It was a very long fall from grace. We were very wealthy. The house I grew up in wasn't a mansion. We weren't old money, but dad had been very good at his job. My parents house, my dad's house now, was easily forty-five hundred square feet with an oversized master bedroom and bath, an open floor plan, an office, a dining room, a den, and two large bedrooms with a shared bathroom. There was a large garage, and we had a pool in the backyard. Now, mom and I were reduced to a single room for the both of us. A single bed for the both of us. A single bathroom for the both of us.
Jillian.
My mother's name is Jillian Bruce.
She turned to me, dropping her sack of clothes as she did, and threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight as she wept. We both stood there for a long time and wept. Once she was cried out, mom patted my shoulders and looked up into my eyes with red rimmed, puffy, brown eyes and sighed, "Thank you son. Thank you for always being here for me."
"Your welcome mom," I mumbled, "I will always be here for you."
I meant it with all my heart. I loved her with all my heart. I loved her more than anyone... ANYONE... else in my life!
