Bobby Sterling vs Truth

Bobby Sterling vs Truth - 1 The Reluctant Encounter

***** PLEASE NOTE: This is just half of Chapter 1. If you like it, the complete book is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.  *****

"Bobby... Bobby Sterling! Wake up this instant!" yelled Charlene, Bobby's mother, from downstairs. She was carrying a basket of laundry with one hand, while the other hand was trying to straighten out the rest of the unsightly living room. The current state of the room was depressing for Charlene because she had just cleaned this very room only a couple of days ago. Yet, here she was again, with the room just as messy as before. It was like she was almost stuck in a never-ending time loop.

Charlene was an attractive woman who just turned forty. She had a curvy but athletic physique and shoulder-length straight brown hair and green eyes. She always tried to maintain a positive and upbeat attitude during the course of the day, no matter what was thrown her way. And she'd be the first to tell you, a lot was thrown her way. Some would even say she is a little too vivacious for a mom with two kids. But who could really blame her? She needed to be like that in order to keep up with them and all the additional work they constantly created. She was always determined to be the best mother possible and it was hard to argue that she wasn't. She sometimes wondered how much worse this room could have been if she had a third kid like her husband had really wanted. But even though they were messy children, they were her messy children and she loved them dearly.

Straightening up the house and keeping her son on schedule were just parts of a day's work for Charlene. When she wasn't mothering, which wasn't often, she liked to dabble with her online business. But between trying to keep Bobby on task and taking care of his nine-year-old sister Katie, she didn't really have very much time for it. But she was determined to make time for it as best as she possibly could anyway.

The Sterling's lived in a modest house in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. Despite its modesty, the house had a great view of the Puget Sound and was very modern because of the constant tinkering and upgrading by Bobby's father, Jack. Jack was an engineer and loved to put his engineering skills to good use around the house, even when it wasn't necessary. He also fancied himself as an interior designer but that was very debatable, according to Charlene. On the weekends, Jack liked to try and do athletic and outdoor activities with Bobby as much as possible. Weather permitting of course, which it usually wasn't.

Like his parents, Bobby also has a lot of energy. This is one of the reasons why he is a top defenseman in his junior hockey league. He had been playing hockey ever since he could lace up his own skates. It was something his father steered him towards as a child. Mostly because Jack wanted a chance to coach a sports team and his favorite sport was hockey. Luckily for Jack, Bobby ended up falling in love with it on his own anyway. Even though at times he struggled, especially when he was first learning to skate. Now Bobby's ultimate goal is to play hockey professionally.

Despite his high energy levels, Bobby still really enjoys sleeping. And like most teens, he loved to sleep in on the weekends. Of course being a hockey player, with early morning practices, didn't allow Bobby to have such little luxuries in life. So he liked to stretch out his mornings as much as possible, even if it was just psychologically. But his mother would do her best to impede him at every chance possible. Just like the messy house, this battle was also on a seemingly never-ending time loop.

"Uhhh..." groaned Bobby, slowly from his bed under at least three cozy covers and blankets.

Bobby's room looked like your typical fifteen-year-old boy's room. It was slightly messy, with magazines scattered throughout, an overflowing clothes hamper with a basketball hoop on it in the corner and various sports memorabilia scattered on the wall. The memorabilia consisted mostly of hockey banners and posters with autographs he was lucky enough to acquire, some received through the mail and some in person, over the years. He also had a few autographed and non-autographed cards on his shelves. It wasn't all sports-related stuff though. Figurines and stuffed animals were also strewn about. A notebook computer was on his desk; a tablet was on his nightstand and on his chest of drawers was a nice large LCD TV with more than one video game console attached to it. He had just received his latest console for his fifteenth birthday, which was only a few days ago. Although it was becoming harder and harder for him to allocate time to play any of them as he grew older. Something he was not a fan of at all.