By M. Sydnor, Jr.
When those milestone birthdays come around, that’s a time when we take stock of our lives. Are we where we want to be professionally? Do we have the home and the money we want to support us? Do we have the mate we desire, and if it’s a later milestone, is that mate still a keeper? Where are we at in terms of the goals we set for ourselves earlier in life? Such is the inventory illustrated by M. Sydnor, Jr.’s novella, Thirty.
Our story opens with our main character, Shala Caulk, having a torrid, erotic dream featuring her and a smoking hot, bald fantasy brotha. Her dream is rudely interrupted by the bane of her existence—her eccentric downstairs neighbor Olga Swann and Olga’s chihuahua, Pooper, pounding on her apartment door with a bogus claim that water is leaking from Shala’s bathroom. Shala, to say the least, is ticked off.
You guessed it—it’s her 30th birthday. The sistah’s career isn’t where she wants it to be, and she’s not married. She’s concerned about her looks starting to fade. Her love life consists of a brotha named Tyler, who was a friend until they slept together, and she is increasingly regretting that action. As boyfriend material, Tyler has not stepped up his game when it came to her birthday by being a no-show. Indeed, the dream man has outdistanced the one she’s stuck with.
Among the partygoers for this milestone event were Shala’s sister Sheila and her BFF Patrice—and, to her surprise, the bald man of her sexy dreams, Cory. In the course of the novella, we follow Shala’s conflicted feelings about her dream man Cory, her cheating boyfriend Tyler, and having Pooper working her last nerves. Oh, and let us not forget the enigmatic Olga.
I must say, reading Thirty was like having a front row seat at an Alfred Hitchcock movie—humor, suspense, plot twists rolled up into an amazing package, and I couldn’t look away. Just when I thought I had Shala’s story figured out, Sydnor would give me a surprise revelation.
M. Sydnor, Jr.’s books and short stories, including Thirty, are available through Amazon and his website, msydnorjr.com. In his words, “I don’t expect to get rich from my novels and shorts, but I expect to stamp the world with my presence. So, long after I’m gone, my stories will live. Happiness is the key to a long and healthy life, and writing keeps me happy…as long as there’s coffee.”
Here’s a hat tip to you, Sydnor!
W.D. Foster-Graham
W.D. Foster-Graham is a native son of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in psychology from Luther College, and he was an original member of the multi-Grammy-Award-winning ensemble, Sounds of Blackness. He has also been recognized by the International Society of Poets as one of its “Best New Poets of 2003,” is a guest writer for journalist/author/entertainer Wyatt O’Brian Evans.
