The Oath: Maddy and Silenus by Susan Badaracco

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Five Interesting Individuals I Have Met

We’re all shaped by our interactions with others and our experiences. I have met fascinating, intriguing and quirky individuals. Let me tell you how they affected me…

The woman was heavily made up and walked with a limp. I was in training, working as a student physician assistant in the emergency room. I wrote down her symptoms and started her exam. “I’m a dancer.” she stated. I might have looked puzzled. She did not have the lean body build of any dancer, certainly did not move with the grace one would expect… but the injury explained that. Sensing that I did not understand, she stared at me, repeated her statement, “I’m a dancer.” Ahh, got it. She was an exotic dancer. It turned out that she had suffered an sprain and I, unfortunately, had no magic remedies to get her back on her feet faster. I had some preconceived notions about women in this field but decided she was pretty much like everyone else I treated that night.

Another student story. This time a diabetic man with a foot injury. Diabetics don’t have the same sensation in their feet, they may not realize that they have even been injured. Or realize that their injury has gotten infected. It can be life threatening. I was to ‘clean’ his injury. Despite his lower pain threshold, I knew I was hurting him. I sought to distract him, asked him about his career. He replied he was a Boy Scout leader. ‘Full-time?” Reluctantly, he added that he was a also a psychic. Went on to explain that in the same way we can tell a vicious dog from a friendly dog, just by our instincts, he could ‘see’ more. Most of his cases were missing children and often, he said sadly, he would help parents find the remains. He was so unassuming, felt no need to convince me. I came away thinking maybe there was some truth….

I’ve hosted a politician in my home for a fundraiser. He could travel through a room, shaking hands and storing pieces of trivia about each person that he could draw up months or even years later if needed. It wasn’t all ambition, some of them really have a heart.

I once went to a cocktail party in a townhouse overlooking Central Park. Through a distant relationship, I was in the home of a millionaire. The view of the park that night was lovely. The millionaire appeared later in the evening wearing a smoking jacket and slippers. To this day, I am unsure if that was socially correct. I don’t think millionaires care. He did look comfortable though.

I’ve met David McGee- who calls himself a mentalist. Seriously, watch youtube. He performs incredible acts of magic but prefers to consider himself a manipulator of the mind. I didn’t meet him on stage but rather in a garden club. It turns out he is quite the plant lover. He’s also a practical joker. Discovering that one of the members was a birdwatcher, he wired his trees with speakers and then played CD of exotic birds not found in Texas when our group came to visit. I still remember his chuckles when she looked up, mouth open, to search the trees. We should all laugh more.

When her past merges with her present, Maddy is not sure what to think. Was that really an abduction she witnessed? Does she have the courage to find out?

Silenus is a unicorn haunted by his past failure to protect his charge. He trains relentlessly but is he fierce enough to protect this innocent? Will she even trust him?

Can a mortal and immortal pursue the truth together or will Maddy pay the ultimate price?

Read an excerpt:

Searing pain spread across her belly and she caught her breath. Her vision darkened on the edges, advancing to where it shimmered in the center. She tightened her hand against her side and the pain elevated another notch. Maddy looked up at Silenus, her tears collecting and then trailing down her cheeks.

He met her gaze and held it.

Maddy’s back crashed into the steel door behind her when her legs gave out.

Silenus’ soft brown eyes were like beacons and she locked onto his gaze with the desperation of a swimmer going under for the last time.
Save me.

About the Author:

Susan Badaracco is the author and independent publisher of The Oath: Maddy and Silenus.

In her real life, she is a pediatrician at Kids First Pediatrics where she routinely consoles anxious moms, retrieves interesting objects hidden in ears and laughs at made up knock-knock jokes.

She lives with her husband, a dog (ADHD is not limited to humans) and a cat. Her daughter and son both made the unfortunate decision to grow up which means she travels more than she used to.

Website: http://www.susanbadaracco.com
Blog: http://www.susanbadaracco.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanBadaraccoWrites

The book is FREE at Amazon.

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