“Displaced Ghosts” by Vicky Burkholder
The storms cleared away and the residents emerged to view the damages left behind. Trees had been uprooted, branches flung everywhere, shingles and anything that hadn’t been tied down (and a few things that had) all blown about the town. Though no single building had been destroyed, all of them had some kind of damage.
The worst of the damage, though, was at the south end cemetery. Unlike the other one in town, the one that stood on high ground, the south end one bordered the creek. The creek that even now was still well outside its normal boundaries.
“I told the council they shouldn’t have cut down the banks,” a woman wearing a long white nightgown said. “Look at this mess!”
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“Working for the Living” by B.L. Boitson
I stared around at the slashed red sparkle vinyl, the chipped cobalt blue Formica and the cracked white wall tile. A quarter of the diner was ruined thanks to a recent bar fight. Alcohol was not what fueled this feud, but the venom of the living. This time it was some passers-through looking for a piece of our scrumptious Gloaming Gap Grapefruit pie. The tartness mixed with the lemon infused brown sugar was a flavor that my patrons, apparently, killed for. They didn’t know. They bit into the flaky crust, tasted the tang, and next thing I knew one of the local untamed vamps jumped the couple and enjoyed the blood of their necks rather than my famous pie.
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“One Stake Or Two” by Jason Deeds
The rusted ’78 Nova’s door clanked shut behind him. Crinkled in his hand was his green unwashed apron. He threw it on, flattened it, and headed in the back door at Crystal’s Cafe. His Name tag read, “Chance”, and had a pair of red dice on it. The ladies knew him by his tagline: “Take a Chance on Me.” As stupid and corny as he knew it was, he was never alone on a Saturday night.
“What’s up ladies? I’m here; you’re going to have to stop talking about me, now.”
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“The One That Didn’t Get Away” by Brent Weaver
Erica Lynn Maria Gonzalez de Echeverria sighed as she felt a cloud rolling over her sun. How dare a cloud interrupt her week at the beach! Basking in the sun while lying on her blanket and occasionally combing out her long lustrous hair was the perfect way to spend her precious vacation, and this cloud was about to spoil important tanning time. Annoyed, she flipped open the latest issue of “Glitz and Fame,” her favorite magazine about celebrities and fashion. Erica Lynn skipped the advertisements for vodka and perfume so she could gaze at the red carpet pages and imagine herself wearing those gorgeous gowns.
“Diamond in the Rough” by Jeannine Burkholder
image by silent shot
I was just visiting Gloaming Gap for the summer and only beginning to get my bearings. I’d done that thing that people do when they want to meet people — at least the way I’d been raised, churches were safer than bars. And there I sat, my first Sunday in town, looking around the nearly empty room and wondering what denomination I’d wandered into.
