Flashback (1988) Read Online Free

starting tomorrow. All my friends are busy thinking up brain problems just so they can come in and see you in your office.”
    Before Zack could respond, Cinnie Iverson reappeared, a pie in each hand, and began her rounds of the table, insisting that everyone take a slice half again larger than he or she desired. Annie flashed him a look that warned, “Now don’t you dare say anything that will upset your mother.” Still, there was something about her color, about the cast of her face, that made him uneasy.
    Dessert conversation was dominated by the twins, who competed with each other to give “Uncle Jacques” the more complete account of what had been happening in their lives. Completely Yankee on one side of their family and completelyFrench-Canadian on the other, the girls were interchangeably bilingual, and as they became more and more animated, increasingly difficult to understand. What fascinated—and disturbed—Zack was the lack of outward interaction between the twins and their father, or, for that matter, between Frank and Lisette.
    Perhaps it was the seating arrangement, perhaps Franks preoccupation with issues at the hospital, in particular the arrival of his younger brother as the new neurosurgeon on the block. Whatever the reason, Zack noted that Frank had spoken scarcely a word to the girls and none, that he could recall, to Lisette. In all other respects, Frank was Frank—full of plans for expanding the scope and services of Ultramed-Davis, and tuned into every potential new real estate development and industrial move in the area.
    Watching the man, listening to him expound on the risks and benefits of entering the bond market at this time, or on the possibilities of developing the meadows north of town into a shopping mall, Zack could not help but be impressed. Frank had overcome one of the most difficult obstacles in life: early success. And, Zack knew, it hadn’t been easy.
    A legend in three sports at Sterling High, voted class president and most likely to succeed, he had gone to Notre Dame amidst a flurry of press clippings touting him as one of the great quarterback prospects in the country. His high school grades and board scores were only average, if that, and his study habits were poor, but the coaching staff and administration at the Indiana school had promised him whatever tutoring help he might need to keep him on the field. And help him they did—at least until his passes began to fall short.
    Midway through Franks sophomore year, the angry, defensive calls and letters home began. There were too many quarterbacks. The coaches weren’t paying enough attention to him. Teachers were discriminating against him because he was an athlete. Next came a series of nagging injuries—back spasms, a torn muscle, a twisted ankle. Finally, there was a visit to Cinnie and the Judge from one of the assistant coaches. Although his parents had never made him privilege to that conversation, Zack was able to piece together that Frank had developed an “attitude problem” and had become more adept at hoisting a tankard than at directing an offense.
    By the middle of Franks junior season, he was back in Sterling, working construction, complaining about his illtreatment at Notre Dame, interviewing with the coaches and administration at the University of New Hampshire, and partying. A knee injury midway through his first season at the state school put an end to his athletic career.
    And as if those failures weren’t enough, Frank had to endure the rising star of his younger brother, whose participation in all sports except climbing had been curtailed by a vicious skiing injury. Following that accident, Zack had suffered through a brief period of depression and rebellion, and then had quietly but steadily built a grade-point average that enabled him to be accepted at Yale—the first Sterling graduate to be so honored.
    There was every reason for Frank to fold, to become embittered and jealous, to drop out.