Best Case Scenario
Dirk B. Sayers
(Nyra’s Journey, Act 1)
Publication date: April 16th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult
More than a year after graduating from college, Nyra’s beginning to wonder when her life gets started. Was it like this for her mother? Nyra doubts it, but things were different then. Her reality is nothing like her mother’s.
Nyra gets that every generation faces its own challenges and she’s smart enough to know its on her to overcome them. That’s why she worked two jobs all through college, studied so hard and tried not to think too much about the mountain of student debt weighing down her tomorrow.
Still, this feeling of wading through quicksand is getting old. Buried deep in the half-formed jumble of dreams for her future, Nyra hears the siren song of hope whispering to her. She’s so ready. But is the song she hears really hope or is it illusion?
—
EXCERPT:
The mirror in the women’s room leaves no refuge from Nyra’s conflicted pride and dissatisfaction. Expressive green eyes set off by her light olive complexion get lots of second looks. A prominent hawk nose calls attention to high cheekbones and overall symmetry. Striking—even pretty, maybe. Time to tweeze her eyebrows, though.Lips a taste too full for her thin “ish” face? A boyfriend from a couple years ago had called them “kissable.” He’d wanted to do more than kiss, but had moved on to the busty blond in their Mass Marketing class—just when Nyra’s simmering sexuality was about to overwhelm Sister Elise’s warnings against “promiscuity.”
The modest swell of her breasts is all but camouflaged by her flowy tunic. Turning sideways in the mirror, Nyra pulls it tight and pouts. Does anyone even notice? She twists and stands on tip toe, for an over-the-shoulder look at her stern. Does her slender waist make her ass look too wide?
She’d once overheard her brother’s best friend Mark commenting on her “sassy chassis.” Nyra’s all-through-high school crush on Mark dated from his off-hand remark. He’d flirted persistently, but nothing ever came of it. Had Kip warned him off?
The door swings open and in walks Toni, the IT Applications Manager. Nyra pivots hastily toward the mirror.
“Hey, Nyra!” Toni smiles, pulls plum-shaded lip stick from her purse and gets to work. “You look just fine leaving, if that’s what you were wondering. How goes it in the call center?”
“Nothing but a party.” Nyra fishes lip-gloss from her own purse and concentrates unnecessarily on applying it.
“One of those days, huh? I feel you… Had a few of those working the IT help desk before I got my certification.”
“Nothing I won’t get over,” Nyra says.
“That which does not kill us?” Toni’s lips twitch in irony.
A light dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks spills down both sides of her neck, inviting speculation. A thick cascade of glossy black curls frame her face, brushing her shoulders. And those liquid brown eyes…
Author Bio:
Dirk Sayers grew up in a university town in Iowa, where he spent his formative years with one foot in the simplicity of farm country and the other in the frenetic environment of a university town immersed in the social upheaval of the sixties. He managed to survive it all, sometimes in spite of himself.
After graduating from college, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, serving for 22 years on five continents, during peace and war. He was decorated five times and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. On retiring, he discovered, (among other things), his experience and six dollars would get him a cup of coffee everywhere…but not necessarily a job.
Accordingly, Dirk took an eighteen month sabbatical to earn a Master’s degree in Organizational Development. Hired shortly after completing his thesis, he applied his new degree as a Corporate Trainer and District Manager. After eleven years with the same company, Dirk became a casualty of the 2008 financial crisis, along with many of the men and women he helped train.
Since then, Dirk has published numerous articles and short stories and two books; a non-fiction work entitled, The Woman's No-fear Guide to Online dating and his first novel, West of Tomorrow. He is also working on the first volume of a science fiction series, Tier Zero, Volume I of The Knolan Cycle and an anthology of short stories, entitled Through the Windshield, Drive-by Encounters with Truth.
Dirk currently lives in Laguna Niguel, with his wife, two psychotic cats, a Ball Python named Corona and a crow with a deformed talon named Hop-along. His author’s web site is dirksayers.com where he blogs about a variety of issues of interest to us all & posts the latest news regarding his writings.
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