Opening of "One Summer"

It was just past Memorial Day Weekend, when my agent called, informing me that my last title was bombing out.  We had only just introduced it that spring, but a book publishing lives or dies by those first reviews.  I took the bad news well, considering what was at stake.  I only had so much money left to survive on, while I tried to pull together another work.  Next, he told me, that they were thinking of dropping me altogether.  I pleaded with him, as half of my stuff had published well.  There was no point in pulling the trigger too early.  The market was tight, plus I only half-believed in all of their marketing claims, which truthfully, could probably explain the whole thing.  He got defensive, and then we started to argue.  I cut that off, as soon as I sensed it coming.  Just give me one last shot.  He agreed, and then that was the end of the phone call.