October 3, 2022 • 9 mins
The opening chapter of SIGNAL FIRES is shared here, in Dani's voice, for the very first time.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, Family Secrets. Family. I'm here with a special treat
for you, my way of thanking you for being such
a wonderful, supportive and inspiring community. I couldn't do what
I do without you. So without further ado, here is
a special sneak peak of the first chapter of my
new novel, Signal Fires. The book doesn't come out until October,
(00:23):
but I wanted you to get a taste of it
before anyone else. Everything I know about Family Secrets is
in the story I'm about to tell. I hope you
love it. August Sarah and THEO. And it's nothing really,
(00:52):
or might be nothing, or ought to be nothing. As
he leans his head forward to press the tip of
his cigarette to the car's lighter, its sizzles on contact,
a sound particular to its brief moment in history in
which cars have lighters and otherwise sensible fifteen year old
choke down Marlborough Reds and drive their mother's Buicks without
(01:14):
so much as a learner's permit. There's a girl he
wants to impress. Her name is Misty Zimmerman, and if
she lives through this night, she will grow up to
be a magazine editor or a high school teacher or
a defense lawyer. She will be a mother of three
or remain childless. She will die young of ovarian cancer,
(01:34):
or live to know her great grandchildren. But these are
only a few possible arcs to a life. A handful
of shooting stars in the night sky change one thing,
and everything changes. A tremor here sets off an earthquake there,
A fault line deepens, A wire gets tripped, his foot
(01:56):
on the gas. He doesn't really know what he's doing,
but that won't stop him. He's all jacked up, just
like a fifteen year old boy. He has something to
prove to himself, to Misty, to his sister. It's as
if he's following a script written in brail, his fingers
running across code. He doesn't understand THEO slow down. That's
(02:20):
his sister, Sarah from the back seat Misty's riding shotgun.
It was Sarah who tossed him the keys to their
mother's car. Sarah aged seventeen. After this night, she will
become unknowable to him. The summer sky is a veil
thrown over the moon and stars. The streets are quiet,
(02:42):
the good people of Avalon long since tucked in for
the night, their own parents are asleep in their queen
sized bed under the plaid afghan knitted by one of
their father's patients. His mom is a deep sleeper, but
his dad has been trained by a lifetime as a
doctor to bolt awake at the slightest provocation. He is
(03:04):
always ready. The teenagers aren't looking for trouble. They're good kids.
Everyone would say so. But they're bored. It's the end
of summer. School will resume next week. Sarah is going
into her senior year, after which she'll be gone. She's
a superstar his sister varsity. This honors that bristling with potential.
(03:28):
THEO has three years left and he's barely made a mark.
He's a chubby kid whose default is silence and shame.
He blushes easily. He can feel his cheeks reddened as
he holds the lighter and inhales. Here's the sizzle, draws
the smoke deep into his lungs. His father, a pulmonary surgeon,
(03:49):
would kill him. Maybe that's why Sarah threw him the keys.
Maybe she's trying to help get him to act. God
damn it, to take a risk. Better to be bad
than to be no thing. Misty Zimmerman is just a
girl along for the ride. It was Sarah who asked
her to come. Sarah doing for THEO what THEO cannot
do for himself. Change one thing, and everything changes. The
(04:14):
buick speeds down Poplar Street. Misty stretches and yawns in
the passenger's seat. THEO turns left, then right. He's getting
the hang of this. He flicks the directional then heads
onto the parkway. As they passed the mall, he looks
to see if Burger King is still open. Watch it,
Sarah yells. He swerves back into his lane, heart racing.
(04:39):
He almost hit the guardrail. He gets off the parkway
at the next exit and eases up on the gas.
This was maybe a bad idea. He wants to go home.
He also wants another cigarette. Pull over, Sarah says, I'll drive.
THEO looks for a good spot to stop. He has
no idea how to park. Sarah's right, this is stupid. Actually, no,
(05:04):
forget it. I shouldn't, She says. They're almost home. It's
like a song in his head. Almost home, Almost home,
Almost home, just a few blocks to go. They pass
the Heller's house. The church offs as he leans forward
The lighter slips through Theo's fingers and drops into his
open shirt collar. He lets out a yelp and tries
(05:27):
to grab it, which only makes matters worse. He arches
his back to shake the burning metal sing loose, but
it's wedged between his shorts and his belly. The smell
of singed flesh, a perfect shiny half moon, will remain
years from now. When a lover traces the scar on
his stomach and asks how he got it, he will
(05:49):
roll away. But now now they're futures shoot like gamma
rays from the moving car. Three high school students. What
if Sarah had got out with her friends instead that night?
What if Misty had begged off? What if THEO had
succumbed to his usual way of being and fixed himself
a salami sandwich with lots of mustard and taking it
(06:12):
with him to bed. The wheel spins the screams of
teenagers in the night, THEO no stop, Jesus, fuck, Help God.
And there is no screech of brakes, nothing to blunt
the impact. A concussion of metal and an ancient oak,
the sound of two worlds colliding. The fender and right
(06:34):
side of the buick crumpled like it's a toy, and
this is all make believe. Upstairs, on the second floor
of Benjamin and Mimi Wolfe's home, a light blinks on
a window opens. Ben Wilf stares down at the scene
below for a fraction of a second. By the time
he's made it to the front door, his daughter Sarah
is standing before him. Thank god, thank god, thank god,
(06:58):
her t shirt and her face splattered with blood. THEO
is on all fours on the ground. He seems to
be in one piece, thank God, thank god, thank god.
But then there's a girl in the car. Dad, miss
Tis and Ramann is unconscious. She isn't wearing a seatbelt
who wears seatbelts, and there's a gash in her forehead
(07:20):
from which blood is gushing. There's no time to call
an ambulance. If they wait for E. M. T. S
To get here, the girl will be gone. So Ben
does what's necessary. He leans into the driver's door, hooks
two hands beneath the girl's armpits, and drags her out.
Your shirt, THEO. He barks Theo's belly royals. He's about
(07:41):
to be sick. He pulls his shirt off and throws
it to his father. Ben lifts Misty's head, then wraps
the shirt tightly around her skull in a tourniquet. His
mind has gone slow and quiet. He's a very good doctor.
He feels for the girl's pulse. Mimi is on the
front steps now, her nightgown billowing in the wind that
(08:05):
seems to have kicked up out of nowhere. What happened,
Mimi screams, Sarah THEO It was me, Mom. Sarah says,
I was driving. THEO stares at his sister. That doesn't
matter now, Ben says softly. Up and down Division Street.
(08:25):
Their neighbors have awakened. The crash, the voices, the electricity
in the air. Some one must have called it in
in the distance, the wail of a siren. Ben knows
before he knows, in that deep instinctual way he couldn't
see in the dark. When he dragged the girl out
of the car, he registered only the head wound, the
(08:48):
uncontrollable bleeding. He now knows her neck is broken, and
he has done the worst thing imaginable. He has moved her.
In the day is to come, he will tell the
story to the authorities, to the life support team, to
Missy's parents. The story that Sarah was driving with Misty
(09:10):
riding shotgun and THEO in the back seat will not
be questioned, not this night, not ever. It will become
the deepest kind of family secret, one so dangerous that
it will never be spoken. This audio was exerted from
(09:35):
the audiobook of Signal Fires by Danny Shapiro, who was
read by the author, and courtesy of Penguin Random House
Audio
Hey, Family Secrets. Family. I'm here with a special treat
for you, my way of thanking you for being such
a wonderful, supportive and inspiring community. I couldn't do what
I do without you. So without further ado, here is
a special sneak peak of the first chapter of my
new novel, Signal Fires. The book doesn't come out until October,
(00:23):
but I wanted you to get a taste of it
before anyone else. Everything I know about Family Secrets is
in the story I'm about to tell. I hope you
love it. August Sarah and THEO. And it's nothing really,
(00:52):
or might be nothing, or ought to be nothing. As
he leans his head forward to press the tip of
his cigarette to the car's lighter, its sizzles on contact,
a sound particular to its brief moment in history in
which cars have lighters and otherwise sensible fifteen year old
choke down Marlborough Reds and drive their mother's Buicks without
(01:14):
so much as a learner's permit. There's a girl he
wants to impress. Her name is Misty Zimmerman, and if
she lives through this night, she will grow up to
be a magazine editor or a high school teacher or
a defense lawyer. She will be a mother of three
or remain childless. She will die young of ovarian cancer,
(01:34):
or live to know her great grandchildren. But these are
only a few possible arcs to a life. A handful
of shooting stars in the night sky change one thing,
and everything changes. A tremor here sets off an earthquake there,
A fault line deepens, A wire gets tripped, his foot
(01:56):
on the gas. He doesn't really know what he's doing,
but that won't stop him. He's all jacked up, just
like a fifteen year old boy. He has something to
prove to himself, to Misty, to his sister. It's as
if he's following a script written in brail, his fingers
running across code. He doesn't understand THEO slow down. That's
(02:20):
his sister, Sarah from the back seat Misty's riding shotgun.
It was Sarah who tossed him the keys to their
mother's car. Sarah aged seventeen. After this night, she will
become unknowable to him. The summer sky is a veil
thrown over the moon and stars. The streets are quiet,
(02:42):
the good people of Avalon long since tucked in for
the night, their own parents are asleep in their queen
sized bed under the plaid afghan knitted by one of
their father's patients. His mom is a deep sleeper, but
his dad has been trained by a lifetime as a
doctor to bolt awake at the slightest provocation. He is
(03:04):
always ready. The teenagers aren't looking for trouble. They're good kids.
Everyone would say so. But they're bored. It's the end
of summer. School will resume next week. Sarah is going
into her senior year, after which she'll be gone. She's
a superstar his sister varsity. This honors that bristling with potential.
(03:28):
THEO has three years left and he's barely made a mark.
He's a chubby kid whose default is silence and shame.
He blushes easily. He can feel his cheeks reddened as
he holds the lighter and inhales. Here's the sizzle, draws
the smoke deep into his lungs. His father, a pulmonary surgeon,
(03:49):
would kill him. Maybe that's why Sarah threw him the keys.
Maybe she's trying to help get him to act. God
damn it, to take a risk. Better to be bad
than to be no thing. Misty Zimmerman is just a
girl along for the ride. It was Sarah who asked
her to come. Sarah doing for THEO what THEO cannot
do for himself. Change one thing, and everything changes. The
(04:14):
buick speeds down Poplar Street. Misty stretches and yawns in
the passenger's seat. THEO turns left, then right. He's getting
the hang of this. He flicks the directional then heads
onto the parkway. As they passed the mall, he looks
to see if Burger King is still open. Watch it,
Sarah yells. He swerves back into his lane, heart racing.
(04:39):
He almost hit the guardrail. He gets off the parkway
at the next exit and eases up on the gas.
This was maybe a bad idea. He wants to go home.
He also wants another cigarette. Pull over, Sarah says, I'll drive.
THEO looks for a good spot to stop. He has
no idea how to park. Sarah's right, this is stupid. Actually, no,
(05:04):
forget it. I shouldn't, She says. They're almost home. It's
like a song in his head. Almost home, Almost home,
Almost home, just a few blocks to go. They pass
the Heller's house. The church offs as he leans forward
The lighter slips through Theo's fingers and drops into his
open shirt collar. He lets out a yelp and tries
(05:27):
to grab it, which only makes matters worse. He arches
his back to shake the burning metal sing loose, but
it's wedged between his shorts and his belly. The smell
of singed flesh, a perfect shiny half moon, will remain
years from now. When a lover traces the scar on
his stomach and asks how he got it, he will
(05:49):
roll away. But now now they're futures shoot like gamma
rays from the moving car. Three high school students. What
if Sarah had got out with her friends instead that night?
What if Misty had begged off? What if THEO had
succumbed to his usual way of being and fixed himself
a salami sandwich with lots of mustard and taking it
(06:12):
with him to bed. The wheel spins the screams of
teenagers in the night, THEO no stop, Jesus, fuck, Help God.
And there is no screech of brakes, nothing to blunt
the impact. A concussion of metal and an ancient oak,
the sound of two worlds colliding. The fender and right
(06:34):
side of the buick crumpled like it's a toy, and
this is all make believe. Upstairs, on the second floor
of Benjamin and Mimi Wolfe's home, a light blinks on
a window opens. Ben Wilf stares down at the scene
below for a fraction of a second. By the time
he's made it to the front door, his daughter Sarah
is standing before him. Thank god, thank god, thank god,
(06:58):
her t shirt and her face splattered with blood. THEO
is on all fours on the ground. He seems to
be in one piece, thank God, thank god, thank god.
But then there's a girl in the car. Dad, miss
Tis and Ramann is unconscious. She isn't wearing a seatbelt
who wears seatbelts, and there's a gash in her forehead
(07:20):
from which blood is gushing. There's no time to call
an ambulance. If they wait for E. M. T. S
To get here, the girl will be gone. So Ben
does what's necessary. He leans into the driver's door, hooks
two hands beneath the girl's armpits, and drags her out.
Your shirt, THEO. He barks Theo's belly royals. He's about
(07:41):
to be sick. He pulls his shirt off and throws
it to his father. Ben lifts Misty's head, then wraps
the shirt tightly around her skull in a tourniquet. His
mind has gone slow and quiet. He's a very good doctor.
He feels for the girl's pulse. Mimi is on the
front steps now, her nightgown billowing in the wind that
(08:05):
seems to have kicked up out of nowhere. What happened,
Mimi screams, Sarah THEO It was me, Mom. Sarah says,
I was driving. THEO stares at his sister. That doesn't
matter now, Ben says softly. Up and down Division Street.
(08:25):
Their neighbors have awakened. The crash, the voices, the electricity
in the air. Some one must have called it in
in the distance, the wail of a siren. Ben knows
before he knows, in that deep instinctual way he couldn't
see in the dark. When he dragged the girl out
of the car, he registered only the head wound, the
(08:48):
uncontrollable bleeding. He now knows her neck is broken, and
he has done the worst thing imaginable. He has moved her.
In the day is to come, he will tell the
story to the authorities, to the life support team, to
Missy's parents. The story that Sarah was driving with Misty
(09:10):
riding shotgun and THEO in the back seat will not
be questioned, not this night, not ever. It will become
the deepest kind of family secret, one so dangerous that
it will never be spoken. This audio was exerted from
(09:35):
the audiobook of Signal Fires by Danny Shapiro, who was
read by the author, and courtesy of Penguin Random House
Audio
Family Secrets News
Host
Dani Shapiro
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.