Oliver's Story (20 page)

Authors: Erich Segal

BOOK: Oliver's Story

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December 1976

I’
ve been in Boston nearly five years now. I worked in tandem with my father till he left the firm. At first, I do confess, I missed the legal action. But the more I got involved, the more I found that what we do at Barrett, Ward and Seymour is important too. I mean the companies we help to float create new jobs. And that’s a source of pride to me.

Speaking of employment, in Fall River all our mills are flourishing. Actually, the only setback that our workers suffered has been on the playing field.

Each summer at our picnic, Rank & File plays Management in softball. Since my drafting into service, Labor’s tide of victories has been reversed. I’m batting .604 (yes, folks), with seven homers in four years. I think they’re looking forward to my ultimate retirement.

The
Wall Street Journal
does not mention all the enterprises we have financed. One omission was Phil’s Bake Shop . . . of Fort Lauderdale. The gray and cold of Cranston winters got to Phil, and Florida was just too tempting.

He calls me once a month. I ask about his social life, aware that there are many eligible ladies in his area. He ducks the question with a “Time will tell.” And quickly turns the subject to
my
social life.

Which is pretty good. I live on Beacon Hill, that legendary cornucopia of recent college graduates. It’s not too difficult to make new friends. And not just business types. I often lift a glass with Stanley Newman, who’s a jazz pianist. Or Gianni Barnea, a just-about-to-be-discovered painter.

And, of course, I’m still in touch with all my old friends. The Simpsons have a little son and Gwen is preg with number two. They stay with me when they’re in Boston for a football game or something. (I’ve got lots of room.)

Steve reports Joanna Stein has married Martin Jaffe, who I gather is an ophthalmologist as well as an oboist. They’re living on the Coast.

According to a little squib I read in
Time,
Miss Binnendale has recently re-wed. A guy named Preston Elder (“thirty-seven, Washington attorney”).

I suppose the matrimony epidemic will eventually strike me. Of late I’ve seen a lot of Annie Gilbert, who’s a distant cousin. At this point I can’t say if it’s serious.

Meanwhile, thanks to all those hockey fans who voted for me, I’m a Harvard Overseer. It’s a good excuse to go to Cambridge and pretend I’m still what I no longer am. The undergraduates appear much younger and a trifle scruffier. But who am I to judge? My job obliges me to wear a tie.

So life is challenging. The days are full. I get a lot of satisfaction from my work. Yes, Barrett that I am, I get my rocks off on Responsibility.

I’m still in shape. I jog along the Charles each evening.

If I go five miles, I get to glimpse the lights of Harvard just across the river. And see all the places I had walked when I was happy.

I run back in the darkness, reminiscing just to pass the time.

Sometimes I ask myself what I would be if Jenny were alive.

And then I answer:

I would also be alive.

About the Author

E
rich Segal's
first three
novels,
Love Story, Oliver's Story,
and
Man, Woman and Child,
were all
international bestsellers and became major motion pictures. His fourth novel,
The
Class,
was a New York Times bestseller and won literary prizes in both
France and Italy. Segal is also the author of
Doctors,
and most recenty,
Acts of Faith and Prizes.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite
HarperCollins authors.

Other Books by
Erich Segal

L
OVE
S
TORY

Praise for Oliver’s Story

THE EXTRAORDINARY NOVEL

THAT CONTINUES THE SAGA

BEGUN WITH
LOVE STORY
. . .

“What a rare storyteller.”

Detroit News

“A very pleasurable and believable sequel to Love Story that every reader of the first book and every viewer of the film will enjoy.”

Publishers Weekly

“Erich Segal has done it again. Mystery, sexual excitement and antagonism in the right mixture work their spell.”

St. Louis Globe

Oliver’s Story

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 0-380-01844-6

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062130129

10 9 8

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